Being a girl is tough. Sometimes, you need a little inspiration to get you back on track to being your strong, intelligent, and all-powerful self! Here are some films that should help you do just that.

1. "Mona Lisa Smile"

In this film, Julia Roberts stars as a new teacher in an all-girls private school in the 1950’s. Roberts’ character constantly pushes against the conservative administration and teaches the girls that they have more to offer than just their left ring finger. It is a story about how multi-faceted women are, and that it is important that we encourage each other to realize our worth.

2. "Fried Green Tomatoes"

Fried Green Tomatoes is about a woman who is constantly being underappreciated and neglected, but fate introduces her to a woman in a nursing home whose story about powerful women friendships and the courage to swim against the tide inspire her to find her voice and her strength once again. This film reminds women to stand up for themselves and be unapologetically themselves.

3. "Steel Magnolias"

Steel Magnolias is a classic movie that follows the lives of five southern women from Mississippi who share gossip, laughter, and tears together as they navigate through troubles with men, family, and taking care of themselves. With a cast that includes Dolly Parton, Sally Fields, and Julia Roberts, you can’t go wrong.

4. "Practical Magic"

Practical Magic stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as two sisters raised by their eccentric aunts, who happen to be witches. The sisters, also witches, grow up and lead very different and separate lives from each other. Gillian is the free-spirited, desirable sister- able to charm everyone she meets. She followed men around the world and lived boldly. Sally, however, stayed in the small Maine town with her aunts and raised her children in the same house she grew up. An unexpected turn of events reunites the sisters, and they must rely on their unbreakable bond of sisterhood to fight the evil they are confronted with.

5. "Under the Tuscan Sun"

Frances is an author who recently discovers that her husband has been cheating on her. In her post-divorce slump, her best friend and her best friend’s partner send her on their romantic trip to Tuscany. While there, Frances impulsively buys a villa. She hires a band of Polish construction workers and begins renovating her new home, all while re-discovering herself as an independent woman and finding out what her place is in the world is.

6. "Frida"

This biopic of the Mexican artist and activist, Frida Kahlo, stars Salma Hayek as the woman who found her voice through art while being bed-ridden after a crippling accident. The film follows Kahlo as she makes art, falls in love, and grows to be one of the most iconic women in history.

7. "Legally Blonde"

We’ve all seen it, but in case you have lived under a rock for the past decade and have missed it, this film stars Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods, a sorority girl turned Harvard Law student who shows women that we can love pink and have perfect nails AND become Valedictorian of our class at an Ivy League school.

8. "The Runaways"

Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart star as Cherie Curry and Joan Jet in this biography about the first popular all-girl rock band that came together in Hollywood, 1974. The band was built on the principle that girls can be strong and in-your-face, and rock’n’roll isn’t just a game for the boys.

9. "Mulan"

To save her disabled father from having to go to war once more, Mulan disguises herself as a man and joins the Chinese army. She surpasses her male counterparts in training and uses her wit and strength to perform just as well in battle. After her identity is found out, she faces the leader of the Hun army as herself, and well, saves China. How’s that for girl power?

10. "The Secret Life of Bees"

In 1964 in the middle of the civil rights movement, Lilly Owens flees her abusive father with her caregiver, Rosaleen, (Jennifer Hudson), and they take refuge in the home of the Boatwright sisters. Here, Lilly learns what it’s like to be surrounded by powerful and warm women, and Rosaleen learns what it means to be a strong black woman in the face of adversity and racism.

11. "Girl Interrupted"

In the film adaption of Susanna Kaysen’s memoir of her year in a female mental ward, Winona Ryder highlights the realities of what it is like living with a mental illness and comes to terms with that mental illness while trying to find where she belongs in the world. While institutionalized, Susanna encounters an array of female characters, all with different stories of their own, and these women allow her to see that it is important to exist outside the realms of what is socially conventional, and what it means to prioritize yourself.

12. "Penelope"

This underrated film stars Christina Ricci as a blue-blooded American with one struggle- she was born with the nose of a pig because of a curse put on her family generations before. In this story, Penelope’s mother spends her days trying to find a match for Penelope to lift the curse. Not being able to take the pressure of finding a suitor who will not scream at the sight of her, Penelope runs away, and on her journey, learns to love herself exactly the way she is- an important lesson for girls and women of all ages to learn.

13. "Clueless"

Cher Horowitz is more than meets the eye. This valley girl and her best friend take a new student under their wings and teach her about self-respect, strong girl friendships, and always working to better themselves, (this includes reading, working out, and true to the ‘valley girl’ motif- fashion)

14. "Bend It Like Beckham"

This film is about a fist generation Indian immigrant living in the UK who has a passion for soccer, (or as the Brits say- football). This passion causes conflict in her family because of her family’s built-in cultural expectations of what a respectable Indian woman should act like. This does not stop her from joining a girls’ soccer team and finding herself through female friendships and her love of the game.

15. "Hidden Figures"

This Acadamy Award-nominated film tells the true stories of three black women who worked for NASA in the 1960’s, and were crucial in the United States efforts to put a man on the moon. This movie showcases females who fight against all odds to be heard and respected in a time where they weren’t even allowed to use the same bathrooms as their white women coworkers.

16. "The Harry Potter Films"

This series is a perfect example of strong female characters who are not guided by romance. Hermione is an intelligent and kind young woman, and everyone knows Harry and Ron would be nowhere without her. Let’s not forget Professor McGonogall, Luna Lovegood, Molly and Ginny Weasely, and the late Lilly Potter, who are also prime examples of complex women capable of achieving extraordinary things.

17. "Pride and Prejudice" (2005)

Jane Austen’s classic about a young woman ahead of her time, Elizabeth Bennet, shows females that we should never settle for anything less than exceptional, even when society, families, and men get in the way.

18. "Beauty and the Beast"

With the live action adaption of the Disney classic just around the corner, I recommend watching the original again and reflecting on the important message Belle has been teaching young girls for years now- that knowledge, kindness, and acceptance are what it takes to be a strong and successful woman.

19. "The Devil Wears Prada"

This movie starring THE Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway depicts the life of a career woman. Both characters are criticized for putting their careers and themselves first, while men do the same thing and get praised for it. The film’s commentary on double standards is important for both men and women to pay attention to.

20. The "Star Wars" Films

From Princess Leia to Padme, to Rey, and now Jen, these films do an excellent job of including powerful female characters. Leia was not only a princess, but she was a Senator, a leader of the Rebel Alliance, and later, a General, (Carrie Fisher, may you rest in peace). Both Rey from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jen Erso from 2016’s Star Wars: Rogue One were central female characters with no romantic involvement. All characters are seen as equally, (and sometimes more), capable than their male counterparts, making equality a central theme.