Free Being Me – what is it?

1. Free Being Me – what is it? Empowering girls through improving body confidence and self esteem. • 11-14s and 7-10s activity packs – 4 sessions and Take Action project • Leader Guide • Badge • Supporting website and global sharing • www.free-being-me.com #FreeBeingMe #LibredeSerYo

2. WAGGGS and Dove Our vision A world free from appearance related anxiety for girls Our mission To empower girls to reach their full potential by strengthening their body confidence and self-esteem Aim to reach 3.5 million girls with body confidence and self-esteem education by Dec 2016.

3. WAGGGS and Dove Working together to empower a generation with the body confidence and freedom to be themselves. • What is Dove? • Aleading personal care brand • Dove Self-Esteem Project. Long-standing commitment to improving the body confidence and self-esteem of women. • 17 million young people already reached • Working together • Ten year history of joint working with Girl Guide/Girl Scout organisations • Shared goals – to help girls reach their full potential • Leading experts brought together

4. A girl with self-esteem… • Respects herself • Believes in herself and in her abilities • Is not held back by a lack of belief in herself or her abilities • Is more likely to fulfil her potential in life

5. A girl with body confidence… • Is satisfied with the way her body looks • Celebrates and enjoys what her body can do • Is not held back by worries about the way she looks • Is likely to have higher self-esteem

6. Is body confidence such a big problem? Some global facts… • Australian girls say that body image is one of their top three worries in life. • One in three six-year-olds in Japan experiences low body confidence. • 81 per cent of 10-year-old girls in the U.S. are afraid of being fat. • More than 110,000 girls in Brazil underwent cosmetic surgery in 2009. • Globally, six out of 10 girls opt out of important activities because they’re worried about the way they look. • Studies in Finland, China and the U.S. show that girls who think they are overweight, irrespective of their actual weight, have lower grades. • The negative impact of low body confidence continues later on in life, with 17 per cent of women claiming they won’t go to a job interview and 8 per cent missing work on days when they feel bad about the way they look.

7. Why body confidence? Low body confidence stops girls… • Developing skills in activities they would enjoy • Voicing their opinions • Taking risks • …Reaching their full potential How does this link to the SGDs? Target 5.1 end all forms of discrimination against women and girls. Girls around the world face discrimination based on the way they look. Target 5.5 women’s effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership. Low body confidence is a key barrier holding girls back from participating in leadership opportunities.

8. What are the barriers to change? • Lack of understanding of the issue • Lack of understanding of effective strategies for change • Lack of imperative • Lack of infrastructure for change

9. Our plans for CSW • 90min parallel event, Wednesday 23 March 2.30 pm • Advocacy throughout the event; talking about the issue at events and with decision makers/influencers Aims: • To raise awareness about the issue of body confidence and the critical importance of taking action. • To improve understanding of body confidence as an issue that undermines progress towards achieving gender equality and girls’ ability to contribute towards the SDGs • To improve understanding of what is required to achieve change

10. Working towards a body confident world What do governments and NGOs need to do to make a difference? • Gather baseline data to understand body confidence issues nationally/globally (our research as an example) • Fund and deliver effective evidence-based education (like Free Being Me!) • Work together in joint initiatives to ensure scale and pooling resources (like WAGGGS and Dove)