Women's self-esteem
By 2050 low self-esteem could cost the nation 16% of our British female Olympic medalists with 53% of girls avoiding certain activities because they feel badly about the way they look.
According to research commissioned by Dove, this could become reality, as a lack of self-esteem among 11-17 year old girls prevents them from realising their full potential, with huge consequences for their personal and professional future. It’s Dove's mission for the Dove Self-Esteem Programme to reach 1 million young girls and women by the end of 2012 and they have currently reached 820,000.
Britain’s sporting success will be hit badly. Self and body-esteem issues could mean an estimated two to three potential female medalists drop out of sport and as a result, never step onto the winner’s podium in future games.
Low self-esteem affects how young girls feel about their future careers with only one in three feeling confident they will have a successful career in the future. This has a huge impact on the medical and legal professions with the potential number of female doctors and lawyers reducing by 17%. That’s a shortfall of 20,000 female lawyers and around 35,000 doctors by 2050.
The shocking discontentment felt amongst young girls about their appearance is at the heart of the issue. Nearly half (45%) describe themselves as ‘average’ and ‘ordinary’ with a further 10% feeling ‘plain’, ‘unattractive’ and ‘ugly’.
With just over half (53%) of all girls believing that they would be happier if they were more beautiful, the reward for closing the self-esteem gap has never been so great, whilst the danger of failing to do so, equally profound.
Tagged in Lifestyle Women's Issues