Society’s emphasis on looks and beauty is fuelling a preoccupation with appearance among girls and women.
Some adolescent girls even miss school because they are concerned about the way they look.
Costing the Invisible, a publication commissioned and funded by the Government Equalities Office, reviewed the findings of 25 empirical studies on the topic, using a sample of more than 49,000 girls and women aged 10 to 60 across five continents.
One of these studies found, for instance, that 31 per cent of adolescent girls in the UK avoid taking part in classroom debate because they don’t want to draw attention to their appearance. Meanwhile 20 per cent said they stay away from school on days when they lack confidence about the way they look.
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