Motion S5M-01864: Body Confidence Crisis Among Young Girls

That the Parliament acknowledges the publication of the annual survey of the charity Girlguiding UK; understands that the survey questioned 1,627 girls and young women aged between seven and 21 on a range of issues; notes with concern its findings that young girls in Cunninghame South and across Scotland are experiencing an intensifying crisis in body confidence and feel themselves under increasingly severe pressure to be pretty with, for example, 38% of 7 to 10-year-olds stating that they don’t think they are pretty enough, and 35% of the same age group agreeing that women were rated more on their appearance than their abilities; welcomes the initiative of Girlguiding UK in launching its first “body confidence” badge in 2014, as well as its recently launched social media campaign, which uses the hashtag #YouAreAmazing to encourage people to praise girls for achievements or attributes rather than appearance; notes the need for ongoing efforts to combat gender inequality across society, and further notes the calls on parties to work together across the Parliament to this end.