Research

9 Messages Girls See Every Day

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Hot Girls Win

“In an adult oriented, screen saturated world, little girls constantly absorb messages about the importance of being physically attractive, hot, sassy and sexy”

Sue Palmer, author of 21st Century Girls

Perfection Is The Only Option

The pressure of trying to meet artificial standards of feminine beauty and live up to unrealistic role models of “highly polished and glamorous female perfection” disempowers girls and affects their confidence and self- esteem.

Vic Health

You Are Not Enough

At the age of 9, most girls are confident, assertive and felt positive about themselves. By the time they reached high school, fewer than a third feel that way.

American Association of University Women’s Survey 1991

You Must Be Liked

(especially on social media)

“Teens today feel compelled to emulate their favourite celebrities by sharing outfits, hairstyles and the look-at-me poses to faceless peers who can judge them in a nanosecond.“

Jessica Montague, Herald Sun, 2016

6 out of 10 girls felt prettier online compared to life – direct result of number of likes they get online.

Dove Study 2016 #NoLikesNeeded Campaign

It’s What’s On The Outside That Counts

46% of girls aged 11 to 16 would consider cosmetic surgery

Girl Guides Study 2011

36% of Australian girls aged between 6 and 13 worry about their weight

Roy Morgan: Young Australian’s Survey – 2016

You Must Be An Avid Consumer

“Teenage girls spent over 9 billion on make-up and skin products alone, an example of advertisers successfully selling the “quick fix” we make you fit in/feel good/be happy”.

December 2007 issue of The Journal of Consumer Research

Not Everyone Is Equal

Fewer than one in 10 girls (8%) feel they are always treated equally to boys

Everyday Sexism: Girls’ and Young Women’s Views on Gender Inequality in Australia Report 2016 commissioned by Our Watch and Plan International Australia

Being Assertive Isn’t Worth It

“When she is 4 she is audacious, when she is 14 she has trouble speaking up for herself”

Debra Anne Cihonski –Chicago Psychologist, University of Florida, May 2003
Study: The experience of loss of voice in adolescent girls: An existential phenomenological study.

Females Have Fewer Career Options

“Many girls don’t picture themselves as future scientists or engineers. They don’t put a female face on these professions because they rarely see life  scientists”

Sally Ride: Physicist, Astronaut 2006

Research on role models tells us …

that we need role models because they represent the possible, they are inspirational, they tell us how to behave.

Women’s Leadership Institute Australia 2019 Women for Media Report: “You can’t be what you can’t see”

As they get older, girls start to be held back …

by the knowledge that women leaders have a hard time, by the lack of female role models…only 18% of government ministerial positions worldwide are held by women and only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.

Plan International, ‘Taking the Lead’ report, 2019