In our culture, it's hard for girls to develop a healthy measure of assertiveness. Girls who can stand their ground, engage in the healthiest of confrontations, clearly state their needs, and who can push back when being pushed around are often given labels from "tomboy" to the "B*#ch" label. This is no different than a boy who is more sensitive, less aggressive and more tender being called negative things from a mama's boy, cry baby to far worse names.
Girls should be encouraged by both parents to trust their instincts, and to feel positively about their ability to assert themselves with others. They should know that there's nothing wrong with being strong mentally and physically. There's a wonderful gymnastics poster of a girl upside down doing a move over the balance beam. It says something like "grit, strength and determination....that's what little girls are made of." Every girl should have a poster with some kind of message like that hanging up in her room. Girls need to hear from both parents, perhaps more so from their dads, that being feminine can include strength, grit and assertiveness. There is nothing unfeminine about any of these traits. Girls should know that their dads find this attractive in females. Their girls will grow up with more confidence and won't feel like they need to downplay this part of themselves in order to be acceptable to the boys / men in their lives.
