Half of Women Experience More Self-Doubt than Self-Love

A global report launched by The Body Shop has identified a self-love crisis for women around the world. One in two women feel more self-doubt than self-love, and 60% wish they had more respect for themselves. The Body Shop Global Self Love Index is a first-of-its-kind study, commissioned to inform a long-term commitment from The Body Shop to always use its voice to build self-esteem. As a result, The Body Shop is launching a global movement called the “Self Love Uprising,” supported by activist and actress Jameela Jamil and Sara Kuburi. The Millennial Therapist.

The study, designed by The Body Shop and leading market research firm Ipsos, ran between November and December 2020 with over 22,000 people in 21 different countries. The Self Love Index comprises a number of academic measures of self-worth, wellbeing, and happiness, and reveals how age, gender, country, and living standards impact how people feel about themselves.

South Korea, Saudi Arabia and France rank lowest for self-love, whereas Denmark, Australia, and the United States rank the highest. People in the US have a Self-Love Index score of 61, 8 points above the Global average score (53), with only Denmark and Australia scoring higher.

Further key findings of The Self Love Index include:

• COVID-19 has had a slightly more positive impact on women’s self-love than negative. In the US, 64% of women feel the pandemic has not changed how they feel about themselves. 25% say they feel more negative about themselves now and only 11% say they feel better about themselves than they did before the pandemic.
• Frequent users of social media have lower levels of self-love, however they are twice as likely to say they get the emotional support they need, compared to non-users.
• People from minority groups in US have a Self-Love Index of 59 compared to 63 among those not from minority groups. LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities taking part in the survey are more likely to be in the lowest 25% of self-love scores.
• Frequent feelings of anxiety and signs of depression are felt by a slightly higher proportion of people in the US than the global average. 43% of those under 35 often feel depressed or anxious.
• People in the US who are single have lower Self-Love, with an average score of 58, compared to 63 among those in a relationship.
• Self-Love increases with age in the US. People under 35 are significantly more likely to be in the lowest 25% of the Self-Love scores (41% compared to only 9% of those 55 and over).
• The top three causes of low confidence among women in the US are: financial status (31%), feeling they are not making progress towards the things they want in life (23%), and the state of the world (e.g. politics, the economy) (22%).

ONE MILLION ACTS OF SELF LOVE
The Body Shop aims to inspire 1 million acts of self-love in 1 year, to create more love and positive change in the world. It doesn’t matter how big or small, every act can lead to big change. Tips on acts of self-love will be shared on The Body shop online self-love hub and The Body Shop social media channels. Self-love is not merely a concept, it’s an experience. With this understanding, the one million acts movement highlights that self-love involves an action, and that action is at the heart of any change – personal or global.

Edited by Maryssa Gordon, Senior Editor, Price of Business Digital Network