Should women fake confidence? Why the ‘girl boss’ character distracts from bigger problems – like why there’s a gender confidence gap in the first place
- Achieving confidence seems to be the latest trend but experts argue that the importance of confidence in women has been grossly inflated
- One US-based group teaches girls how can they can be accepted and successful in the world without exuding what society has defined as ‘confidence’
The widespread state of loneliness, anxiety, insecurity and sense of “impostor syndrome” millennials are facing today seems to be at an all-time high – and confidence seems to be worse than ever, particularly for women.
With the proliferation of social media filters, and preventive plastic surgery fillers marketed as “self-care”, it’s becoming harder than ever to feel confident as a woman.
We’ve cycled through “girl boss” proclamations to hustle ourselves through life, love our bodies and just think positively. But whether it’s radical acceptance or radical diets, the pressure to measure up has left us more insecure than ever.
From the need to be bold at work or in our personal lives, or loving what we see in the mirror – even if that’s not how we feel inside – “confidence culture” aims to dictate our inner emotional lives.
The myriad books, self-help tools and “methods” directed at achieving confidence point to the notion that it has become the latest trend co-opted by capitalism.
Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill argue in their new book, Confidence Culture, that the importance of confidence, specifically in women, has been grossly inflated, distracting us from looking at the structural inequalities that caused the disparities in the first place.