Girls' lack of confidence about their appearance is blighting their futures

Girls' lack of confidence about their appearance is blighting their futures

By Luke Salkeld

PUBLISHED: 22:51 GMT, 1 April 2012 | UPDATED: 22:51 GMT, 1 April 2011

A generation of adolescent girls will fail to fulfil their professional potential because they are suffering from low self-esteem about their appearance, it was claimed yesterday. One in four females aged between 11 and 17 are weighed down by pressure to conform to an 'ideal notion' of how they should look, a survey suggests. The study concludes that the low self-esteem will have a disastrous effect on their career prospects. Almost half of the girls described themselves as 'average' and 'ordinary' with a further 10 per cent feeling 'plain', 'unattractive' and 'ugly', according to the research The widespread lack of physical confidence has led to girls spending an average of 42 minutes a day working on their appearance, choosing outfits and applying make-up – almost as much time as they spend doing homework. More than half of the girls studied said they would be happier if they were more physically attractive. The results have been interpreted to suggest that the lack of confidence among young women will mean thousands fail to achieve their professional potential. It is claimed Britain could lose some 319,000 future businesswomen, lawyers and doctors, as well as more than 60 women MPs by 2050 unless young women can be helped to retain confidence in their own abilities. The predictions are based on face-to-face interviews with 500 girls between 11 and 17 from across Britain, the results of which were used to forecast future employment. Almost half of the girls described themselves as 'average' and 'ordinary' with a further 10 per cent feeling 'plain', 'unattractive' and 'ugly', according to the research, which was commissioned by Dove. The research showed girls spend an average of 42 minutes a day working on their appearance, choosing outfits and applying make-up The survey found that they spend 23 minutes a day applying make-up or beauty treatments and 19 minutes a day choosing what to wear. By contrast, time spent on homework averages only slightly higher, at 52 minutes a day. Five per cent of girls say they hate the way they look, and a further 20 per cent say that 'there is a lot I would change'. Negative comments about their appearance from other girls were one of the biggest factors making girls feel less confident, the survey found. And low self-esteem damages their prospects, with only one in three confident that she will have a successful career. Market research specialist The Future Foundation used the interview results to make a series of predictions relating to future career paths. Using complex statistical analysis, they said that low self-esteem currently felt by young girls will reduce the likelihood of them following inspirational career paths in politics, business and sport. William Nelson, director of research at The Future Foundation, said: 'Even among high-achieving girls, those with lower self-esteem were significantly less likely to be aiming for "high-profile" careers in future. ‘He added: 'In every profession we looked at, we predict decent growth in the presence of women in coming decades – but numbers of women will not grow as strongly as they could if lowered self-esteem among girls and young women were to be addressed.' Penny Newman, chief executive of Platform 51, formerly the YWCA, added: 'Every day we work with girls and women who suffer from low self-esteem. 'Whether it presents as a lack of confidence about their ability, their body or their worth, these deep-seated anxieties really hold girls back from achieving their potential. 'Dove has launched its Dove Self-Esteem Programme to try to change the way young girls perceive and embrace beauty. The company aims to contact young people through self-esteem workshops, which will be held in schools all over the country. Dove spokesman Ali Fisher said: 'We are passionate about our social mission and want to continue to help young girls and women develop a positive relationship with their bodies.'

How the representation affects teenage girls: As shown in this article representation of teenage girls in the media is affecting there self esteem, schooling and a successful career.In Mean girls we constantly hear and see them fussing over there appearance for example in this video clip below there is 3 beautiful girls standing in front of the mirror to me and other girls they are perfect the are popular, pretty, skinny and seem to have it all. But these 3 girls in the mirror have very low self esteem which makes us think they don't believe they are beautiful then what do they think of us. In the article above it shows that 42 minutes a day for the average girl is spent working on there appearance, choosing outfits and applying make up this statistic has a huge relation to the media and the films magazines and other media that teenage girls are always bombarded with. in the article it states that ' five percent of girls say they hate the way they look and a further 20 percent say that there is a lot i would change.' this is the media's fault constantly showing them photoshoped photos in magazines and super skinny models on the runway, and movies scenes like the following clip of mean girls.

How the Representation affects society's perception and attitude to teenage girls.

To society it makes teenage girls seem weak and dependent. In the article it states the ' one in three teenage girls are confident that she will have a successful career.' this is a very bad statistic it should be at least 2/3 or even 3/3. This all come back to the girls having low self-esteem which damages their prospects of getting a good job. Society perceive girls as needy and helpless, always complaining about the way they look feel their weight and the many of things that are wrong with there body's.





Reasons/ implications for any differences between the representation and reality.

In the representation of teenage movies they never have to worry about school work as the films never show them getting a job or qualification. so there is more time for boys, make up , hair, clothes and gossip. But in reality girls need to be more focused on their school work and not rely on the media to give them tips for life because in reality you need to work hard and school and get qualifications other wise you will not go very far in your life and not have a successful career. In the article it states that 'time spent on homework averages only slightly higher than the amount of time spent on there appearance which is 42 minutes a day and time on home work is 52 minutes a day.'





Reasons implications why the stereotypes messages and/or values are created by the representation.

We are constenlty bombared in the media with people trying to sell us things. We always see in the media girls selling anti-wrinkle cream and they have no wrinkles due to photoshop it makes us feel very   insecure and unhappy about our image as this is shown in the article above. They are also doing the same with acne creme, cellulite and tanning creme.