Conceptualizing
the Problem:
Addressing
the Issue of Self-Esteem Among Women and Girls in our Community
Alexa
Carr, Stephanie Caya, Emily Donaldson & Leslie Jensen
University
of Utah
When
beginning the process of finding a community initiative to collaborate on with
the YWCA, the first thing our group wanted to do was meet with someone that
talked to community members every day. We met with Yen Nguyen, the volunteer
coordinator at the YWCA. She told us the story of how two women had approached
her about the same issues in the few days before we met with her: body image
and self-esteem. The first woman told a story of while she and another mother
had been walking their daughters to school, they ran into some classmates.
After they had walked past them, the daughter’s friend turned to her and said,
“They are so pretty. We’ll never be
that pretty. We’re ugly.” The woman described to Yen how aghast she was at the
situation, but how she didn’t feel able to say anything since it was not her
child and the other mother did not say anything about it.
The
other situation that Yen described was a woman involved with the National
Charity League, an organization that collaborates with the YWCA on projects,
and she described how difficult it was to talk to her teenage daughter about
self-esteem and body image. They agreed in their meeting that something needed
to be done to empower young women and girls. Also, someone needed to empower
adult women both for their own sake and to step in when they see situations
where their daughters, mentees or students are not able to navigate difficult
environments filled with factors that could impact self-esteem. After Yen
shared these stories, our group determined that an event on self-esteem, during
the YWCA’s women’s week, would be an appropriate project.
We
have started gathering information on self-esteem and developed a survey to
determine topics of interest and format for the presentation. Though we don’t
have the results of the survey yet, this paper is an outline of the issue on a
broader scale as gleaned from peer-reviewed journals. Our hope is that having
this background information will inform the planning of the event on
self-esteem in collaboration with the needs and desires of the women in the
community that YWCA serves, namely both the women and girls residing in the YWCA
shelter and the women and girls in the larger community surrounding the
YWCA. For the purpose of this
project and paper, we have defined self-esteem as the ability of an individual
to be confident in herself and to view herself in a positive way. We will be
focusing primarily on the causes and impact of low self-esteem among women and
girls since they are the population we are designing our project for in order
to stay true to the population the YWCA generally serves.
There
is not just one mechanism that causes low self-esteem among women and girls; it
happens in a variety of ways. Peers, primary caregivers, and the media
reinforce traditional gender roles that tell women and girls to behave a
certain way. Popular media and peers enforce the standards of what society and
culture considers “beautiful.” Western media portrays the idea that the thinner
you are the more beautiful and desirable you are. Models and actresses that are
pictured in billboards, magazines and movies that seem to have achieved this
thin ideal are constantly being photo shopped to appear thinner than they
really are. The pursuit to look more like those models is unrealistic and
unreachable, because the models themselves don’t really look like that. This
can cause a lot of women and girls to feel dissatisfied with their own bodies,
which can negatively affect their self-esteem. It has been observed that this
thin ideal is pursued in girls as young as six years old, with some of these
girls already attempting their first diet (Phares, Steinberg, & Thompson,
2004). Female role models,
primarily mothers, also influence young girls and their development of body
dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. A young girl whose mother demonstrates
consistent love and acceptance will have higher self-esteem than those who do
not have a secure mother-daughter attachment (Barber, Ball & Armistead,
2003).
Bullying
is another cause of low esteem among girls, especially when it is done by other
girls. Girl on girl bullying may be harder to detect because it is often not
physical bullying, but instead it can be the spreading of rumors, gossip,
teasing and excluding others. Girls are more likely to bully in groups, making
it less likely that someone will stop it because of fear that they themselves
will be bullied next. Only 15% percent of girls will speak up about being
bullied (National Crime Prevention Council, 2010). Victims of bullying are also
targeted through social media, which faster and reaches a greater audience.
Parents often do not know it is happening and it can affect the way a girl
feels about herself, cause her grades to drop and increase chances of
depression (National Crime Prevention Council, 2010).
Furthermore,
women in physically and/or emotionally abusive relationships are more likely to
experience low self-esteem, therefore be less empowered to leave an abusive
relationship (Lynch, 2013). High self-esteem cannot prevent domestic violence
but women who have low self-esteem may blame themselves for their partner’s
behavior and feel that they provoked the abuse. Society can be very victim
blaming and cause a woman to feel that she is the reason that she was abused or
shame that she didn’t leave sooner, further compounding her initial
self-assessment.
A
variety of things have caused the issue of low self-esteem among women and the
effects of a low self-esteem in women are just as broad, ranging from promoting
the objectification of women to an increase in mental illness. Some studies
have found a relationship between sexism and self-esteem. Oswald, Franzoi, and
Frost stated that when women were to endorse benevolent sexism it was
positively related to their sexual attractiveness body esteem. Oswald et al.
also explains that women who are striving to attain an ultra-thin body ideal
are reinforced for their efforts, which in turn can make the women more
susceptible to self-judgments, which can have a negative effect on their
self-esteem (2012). This shows how low self-esteem can have a spiraling effect.
When a woman is endorsed for her efforts to be thin, she becomes more
self-judgmental, which in turn lowers her self-esteem, which then can make her
desire to become thin even greater, and then the cycle starts all over again.
In
relation to sexism, self-esteem can have an effect on coping with the big issue
of the objectification of women. One study found that having a higher body-esteem
and self-esteem can help be a protective factor against the objectification of
women. This research also explains that if a woman thinks more positively about
herself the less likely she is to judge herself and to seek approval from
others about her appearance (Gregus, Rummell, Rankin & Levant, 2014). This
shows that on the opposite side, if a woman has a lower self-esteem she is more
susceptible to sexual attention and objectification. If a woman has a lower
self-esteem she is more likely to seek out sexual attention to increase her
self-esteem, which actually in turn decreases her self-esteem.
Violence
in relationships has also been found to correlate with self-esteem. When a
woman is in a violent relationship she will stop thinking about her own needs
and only think about her partner’s needs, which will result in a shift of their
sense of self and self-schemas (Lynch, 2013). This shows that when a woman is
only able to see herself as her partner sees her, which is negatively, her
self-esteem is significantly lowered while in a violent relationship. Lynch states
that “Researchers have also noted a relationship between self-efficacy and the
ability to leave a violent partner” (2013, p. 220). This can be a major
consequence of low self-esteem. In an abusive relationship, because the woman
relies on her partner for any type of identity of self-esteem, it makes it very
difficult for her to leave a horrible situation. This is another cycle of
self-esteem, because the more the woman stays in the relationship, the more her
self-esteem will lower, which will make it even harder to leave.
Lastly,
low self-esteem has been found to have a correlation with depression. Sowislo
and Orth (2013) explain:
Laboratory
experiments have repeatedly shown that high self-esteem facilitates more
adaptive persistence behavior: Individuals with high self-esteem persist longer
in the face of failure (e.g., Perez, 1973; Shrauger & Sorman, 1977), but
whenever persistence is maladaptive (e.g., when confronted with unsolvable tasks),
they persist less than individuals with low self-esteem. (215)
This
shows that when someone has a lower self-esteem they are not able to face
failure or trials as easily, which can explain why lower self-esteem can
correlate with depression. Seeing such a great effect in something as important
and valuable as appropriate persistence or admission of failure really shows
just how impactful low self-esteem can be. In this case, it is taking away
potentially important tools for a successful life.
One study also suggested that people
with low self-esteem are constantly seeking reassurance from their friends,
which can push their friends away leading to social isolation (Sowislo &
Orth, 2013). Being socially isolated can increase the likelihood of depression.
The effects of a low self-esteem on depression alone is reason enough to bring
this issue to the attention of communities.
Considering all of the effects of self-esteem is important,
especially since low self-esteem and body image issues affect many populations.
Research has shown that one of the populations who is most affected by these
issues are women; more specifically, adolescent women are deeply affected. A study by Derkintienė
found, “adolescent girls tend to be more dissatisfied with their body image”
and “it has been estimated that seven out of ten girls express their
dissatisfaction with their body image by pursing an idea of a thinner body”
(2012, p. 30). Adolescent women seem to be one of the populations most affected
by low self-esteem, especially in regard to body image.
Within the population of women there are
several subpopulations that are affected by these issues. One study found that
women that are devalued by their partners are more likely to have low
self-esteem (Maestas, 2008). In another research article they found that the
homeless population have high rates of low self-esteem due to an “inability to secure basic needs and sometimes safety
and by the isolation and alienation of homelessness” (Cohen, Putnam, &
Sullivan, 1984).
When speaking to the YWCA
and the supervisor at a school we are doing the survey at, they expressed that
the populations they saw most affected by low self-esteem did seem to fit with
the research we found. A social worker at the school we will be surveying said
that low self-esteem was extremely common in girls who are going through
puberty. Girls that mature before their peers are more likely to have low
self-esteem and body image issues. She also said that girls whose mothers had
low self-esteem or expressed negative body image were more likely going to
experience low self-esteem and have body image issues. She said that this was
due to modeling their mother’s behavior so in turn they saw having low
self-esteem and negative body image as a norm.
Throughout our research we
found the populations who were most affected by low self-esteem and negative
body image were women. Within the population of women we found that adolescent
women, homeless women, women who are devalued by their partners, pubescent, and
girls with female role-models with low self-esteem were the populations we saw
high rates of low self-esteem and negative body image. The added information
from those groups we are surveying has already proved valuable. It will be very
important to consider the results of our survey of the community women and
girls in relation to the information we have already found.
Though
we have focused throughout this paper on women and girls as the primary
stakeholders in this issue, self-esteem and even women’s self-esteem is an
issue that affects everyone. Most obviously, it affects men and boys that
interact with women who struggle with the impacts of self-esteem. Men are also
impacted by the same gender roles that can affect women’s self-esteem. Men can
be instrumental in changing some of the factors that impact women’s self-esteem
such as standing up against sexism and promoting the end of violence against
women. Eric Jessup Anger notes that “in order to build learning environments
free from prejudice, we [men and women] all have an obligation to education and
understand the challenges of both genders (2005, p. 27).
“Research
has shown that women struggle to maintain a positive sense of belonging in STEM
class environments, and that this lower sense of belonging in STEM is
associated with their loss of interests” (Thoman, Arizaga, Smith, Story &
Soncuya, 2014, p. 247). The effect on women’s self-esteem from being in the
STEM fields may seem like just a women’s issue, however, the social pressures
on them may be affecting their male counterparts in primarily feminized spheres
of work. One research study looked at the adherence of male engineers versus
male school counselors to gender norms using ideologies of masculinity and
toughness to measure this. Those in the engineering field valued male type
careers more over prestige type careers while the elementary school counselors
preferred the opposite (Dodson & Borders, 2006). The engineers valued the
masculinity of their career over measures of prestige, showing the impact of
gender socialization on life choices and potentially self-esteem. Though the
study acknowledges that it cannot conclusively determine the actual effects of
being in a gender conforming or gender non-traditional job, they did say their
“results suggest that at least some men would benefit from interventions
designed to help them explore non-traditional occupations” (Dodson &
Borders, 2006, p. 293). The same factors that are telling women they are not
good enough if they enter traditional male dominated fields are telling men
they are not good enough if they enter traditional female dominated fields.
Though gender role issues tend to be discussed in the context of women, it
certainly appears from this research that they are also affecting the
self-esteem of men in non-traditional positions.
Another
study examining society expectations on male work shows that men judge their
“gender status” more harshly after a job loss than women do (Michniewicz, Vandello
& Bosson, 2014). In fact, “men overestimated the reduction in their manhood
status that un-employment would bring” compared to other respondents
(Michniewicz, et al., 2014, p.95). This is another example of the forces that
are usually discussed in terms of women’s self-esteem that also impact men’s
self-esteem.
The
mission of the YWCA is to empower women and end racism. With such a broad
mission statement it was hard, at first, to know what project to move forward with.
However, after finding this research indicating what an issue self-esteem was
among women and girls and Yen’s anecdotal evidence that it is an issue in the
community; it makes complete sense to move forward with self-esteem in women
and girls as a theme. Moving forward, our next steps will be to collect surveys
and look at the data that comes in. After that, based on the results of survey,
we will begin designing an event with a format (presentation, dialogues,
activity, etc.) that best fits the desires of the community. We will also,
hopefully, have the opportunity to create different
formats for children, adolescents, and adults to best fit learning styles and
the topics that the age groups most expressed interest in on the survey. We are
excited to move forward with this project and look forward to implementing
change with the YWCA and its community.
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