Only 2 percent of women think they are beautiful.
90 percent of all women want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance.
One out of four college-aged women have an eating disorder.
These statistics, provided by the Confidence Coalition, highlight the need for women and girls to have confidence in themselves, and this lack in confidence begins at a young age. In fact, 81 percent of 10-year-old girls are afraid of becoming fat, while every seven minutes a girl is bullied in her school yard, playground, stairwell, classroom or bathroom.
According to its website, the Coalition was founded in 2009 by the Kappa Delta Sorority in order to support the organizations, companies and individuals that promote self-esteem and confidence among girls and women.
The College’s chapter of the Kappa Delta Sorority, a member of the national Coalition, promoted confidence on campus by holding Confidence Week from Monday, Oct. 7 through Saturday, Oct. 12. According to junior marketing major and Kappa Delta vice president for Public Relations Jillian McCarthy, the sorority created a Facebook event with their confidence pledge on it, giving students the opportunity to pledge toward a goal outside the Brower Student Center and passed out blue and gold balloons with inspirational messages on them.
“Confidence is important for everybody to have in order to succeed in life. It is important to have confidence in order to stand up for yourself, believe in yourself and realize your full potential,” McCarthy said. “Confidence can be the driving factor that makes so many positive things happen for an individual, and based on the statistics, it is clear not enough women and girls have confidence.”
By holding Confidence Week, Kappa Delta hopes to spread not only confidence, but also self-esteem throughout the campus community.
“I think the week brings the word ‘confidence’ to the front of people’s minds and helps them to stand up a little bit taller and believe in themselves. We hope students walk past the wall outside of the student center and pledged to do something better, whether it was to be more confident, happy, friendly or supportive,” McCarthy said. “Hopefully the wall sparks a thought inside of the heads of our campus’ students and encourages them to believe in themselves and put their best foot forward.”
Kappa Delta continues the Confidence Coalition’s goal even though Confidence Week has ended at the College. According to McCarthy, the sorority will hold Girl Scout Days, where the sisters will act as role models for the young girls. Kappa Delta will show visiting Girl Scouts that it is important to always be confident.
“We hope to live up to the Confidence Coalition’s vision: ‘A world of confident girls and women who embrace the belief that they can achieve anything, and consistently exceed their own expectations,’” McCarthy said. “Confidence is an issue that affects everybody, not just females, and we are proud to be able to promote it through Kappa Delta. If we can help one person believe in themselves, then we have made a positive impact.”
