The celebration of women’s independence and empowerment is now a yearly event, where once a year International Women’s Day takes place in March.
It’s the perfect reminder to see how far women have come in terms of gaining their independence and claiming their own rights in terms of their lifestyle, career and having a strong voice in society.
A recent survey taken by Belle Lingerie, a lingerie and swimwear retailer, took a deep dive into how women define empowerment around the world.
They found the different ways women feel successful, and this survey gives insight into how equal women feel to men in 2023.
Have we really reached gender equality and therefore, do we feel more empowered?
Looking at 5 areas, Belle Lingerie wanted to find out from 1000 women across the UK to see how they define empowerment, looking at different areas such as beauty, finances, career, lifestyle and relationships.
Empowerment can mean so many things to different women- and it’s good to still have important conservations around what makes women feel empowered today!
Beauty
Some people may base their definition of empowerment on feeling confident in the way they look, as society is filled with multiple beauty trends and standards that some women feel they have to follow.
The research found that 60% of respondents said they feel somewhat included in the beauty narrative.
However, 21% said they didn’t feel included at all.
Social media has given us the use of filters for all our photos, yet it’s also taken away people’s confidence in the way they look.
From these results, it appears more may need to be done to help all women of different ages and ethnicities to be seen in the beauty industry.
Finances
When looking into how confident women feel about their finances, it’s clear to see that not all women have reached full financial independence yet, leaving some to still not feel financially stable.
Nearly half of respondents (46%) said they are still looking to become financially independent and still require financial help, such as receiving loans.
It revealed that 39% of women felt completely financially independent, whereas 15% of women responded to say they are not financially stable.
When looking at how women feel about their income, it showed that half of those women felt somewhat satisfied with their salary, with only 11% saying they felt very satisfied with their salary.
Career
Being able to work hard and go into your chosen career can feel like a great sense of empowerment, especially as we’re now seeing more women progress into leadership roles.
This makes the workplace a little more equal between men and women.
It’s no surprise now that just over half of the women surveyed (55%) said they have opportunities to progress in their careers.
Yet, 28% of women differed, as they don’t feel as confident in being able to have career progression- and they voted no.
Lifestyle
A popular choice in 2023 for making money is the infamous site OnlyFans, where users can pay a subscription to be able to view different content, which tends to be mostly pornographic.
71% of respondents said they find sites like OnlyFans empowering for women and support more sites offering financial opportunities for women.
However, 29% of women do not find sites like this empowering due to reasons such as it objectifies women’s bodies and they see it as degrading for some women.
Relationships
Sometimes just being around the people we love the most can help to empower us and give us the confidence we need.
This is why the majority of women (64%) surveyed felt empowered by their families and 58% of women in the UK stated they rely on their friends to help them feel empowered.
Half of the women in the survey said having a good relationship with themselves is one way they feel a sense of empowerment.
What does empowerment mean to you? Share your thoughts using #DefinitionOfEmpowerment!
Love, Sarah xoxo
