Do you think body confidence matters? Help us tell the UN!

WAGGGS will be at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) next week, making the voices of girls and young women heard at the highest level. The UNGA will focus on the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), and we want to keep issues affecting girls high on the agenda!

Body confidence is not directly featured in the SDGs, but we know that without body confidence, girls are less likely to become the leaders their communities and nations need to beat poverty and injustice. Six in ten girls avoid participating in fundamental life activities because of concerns about the way they look.

Pic of UNGA handout
Click here to download an information sheet you can use to tell decision makers why body confidence is so important and what they can do about it!

How does low body confidence limit girls’ leadership potential?

Appearance concerns hold girls back. Shockingly, 15% of girls stay away from school on the days they feel bad about their bodies and 13% won’t give an opinion.* Only when we can reverse the trend of poor body image, will we be able to empower more girls to take up leadership opportunities.

*The Real Truth About Beauty: Revisited. Global review commissioned by Dove, 2010

 

What’s the link with the Sustainable Development Goals?

  • Target 5.1 calls for ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls. Girls around the world face discrimination based on the way they look.
  • Target 5.5 calls for women’s effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making. Low body confidence is a key barrier holding girls back from participating in leadership opportunities.

WAGGGS is calling for girls to be given the tools and spaces to be leaders and agents of change in driving forward the sustainable development agenda, not just to be the beneficiaries of programmes. Body confidence and self-esteem are essential to help them take up these roles.

 

Over the next two weeks, we challenge you and your members to tell the world why body confidence matters to girls.

Use @wagggs_world #FreeBeingMe #UNGA2015 to get the message out there. Make a video, take a photo, write a blog… get creative to share the message that BODY CONFIDENCE MATTERS! Look out for more here on the Free Being Me site, Facebook group and Twitter.

Look out for all the WAGGGS delegates get up to at the UN on the main WAGGGS site and follow @wagggs_world

 

  • For a great way to explain the Sustainable Development Goals to children and young people, check out this video.

 

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