The article points out some pedagogical challenges in supporting girls and young women in their emancipatory movements today. It spotlights a specific section in gender pedagogy by focusing on the aim of self-determination (rather than achievement) in the field of social-pedagogy and it refers to the concept of "girls work" in Germany. A critical discussion of new images of "top girls" leads to a first challenge: the necessity of acting in a self-reflective and sensitive way with these images in the field of pedagogy. The boys' turn in the current gender debate accuses pedagogy of being too girl-friendly. The challenge in this generalising discussion is to shift the perspective away from the boys and girls as being deficient "qua" sex towards pedagogy in general. Regarding the organisational framework this could mean rethinking single- and mixed-sex settings and their impact on gender transgressions. According to this, the concept of girls work is a special point of consideration in the article. It presents some of the results of research on girls' understandings of their self-determination within feminist youth work. It shows how girls and young women value a "girls-only" place. (Contains 5 notes.)