The Dove Self-Esteem Project is the global sponsor of Women in the World and the exclusive sponsor of the new girl-focused platform ‘Generation Girl’.
This year’s summit in London on 8 and 9th October will see the launch of Dove’s #NoLikesNeeded campaign, an initiative aimed at motivating and encouraging girls to realise that the only ‘Like’ that counts is their own.
The event will provide a high profile platform to kick off and amplify the campaign through the authentic voices of extraordinary girls and young women from all over the world. Generation Girl – in exclusive partnership with Dove – will showcase real role models for real girls to inspire and encourage young women and girls to recognise their potential, pursue excellence and be undeniable.
In partnership with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), Dove will host 30 ambitious young women from around the globe – including 15 girls from Girlguiding UK – for three days of self-esteem building workshops and leadership development activities.
The Dove Self-Esteem Project will also host a thought-provoking panel discussion on the issue of body confidence in today’s image-obsessed culture.
The Research:
New research commissioned by the Dove Self-Esteem Project showed that over 1 million UK girls suffer from low body confidence, with two-thirds admitting they feel prettier online than in real life.
The Results:
- 1 in 2 girls say they are using social networks ‘all the time’, across an average of 4 different networks and are increasingly considered as being ‘always on’
- The average UK girl takes 12 minutes to prepare for a single ‘selfie’, thus spending 84 minutes a week getting ready for selfies
- The number of girls who say social networks make them feel worse about their appearance doubles between the age of 13yrs to 18yrs - 30% agree at 13yrs vs 60% at 18yrs
- Girls aged 18-23yrs want three times more ‘Likes’ on social media than girls aged 13-17yrs
How can you help?
If you are worried about your child’s body confidence and feel that social media networks may be having a negative effect, then the Dove Self-Esteem Project could really help. It offers support and a range of useful top tips that will assist you in opening up honest conversations with your young girl about any issues. All advice and support is aimed at influencing a more positive, healthy outlook and usage of social media.
Real vs. Online: Remind your daughter that social media is often like a showreel of life’s best bits – attention-grabbing, carefully edited and inflated. Real life isn’t like that and it’s important to encourage your daughter to acknowledge this, value what’s real and what really matters, especially in relation to friendships at this critical age.
True friendship: Encourage her to recognise that social media ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ aren’t necessarily true friends or even acquaintances, and therefore she should think carefully about what she’s sharing in the public domain.
Be a role model: Prioritise good friendships in your own life, too: be positive about the place your friends have in your life and make sure your daughter knows how much you value your own two or three closest friends – and how a wider network is great, but not quite the same as a dependable inner circle.
Online = forever: Discuss the long-term nature of the internet with her. Help her realise that online means forever – she can’t change something once it has been shared. And ensure she recognises the importance of understanding and setting up privacy settings for all her accounts.
Understand her world - including her social media world: Pay discreet attention to her Twitter/Facebook profiles, but use them to understand what makes her tick rather than check up on her updates. For example, who does she follow on Twitter? These things could be key to how she’s thinking and feeling
Learn from her: Staying on top of the latest technology and social media sites can be overwhelming, but who better to teach you than your daughter herself? Talk to her about what she is posting to social media and who she is sharing it with, and most importantly – how it makes her feel
Visit our Self Esteem project website to access the full range of self-confidence building tools and resources that have been developed by our experts at the Dove Global Advisory Board.
Follow @DoveUK on Twitter.
You can learn more about the Women In The World Summit here
