Irish Women Held Back By Body Confidence Hang-Ups

Body confidence has affected almost half of female relationships in some way, while three quarters of females feel their confidence has held them back in their career. That's the depressing finding of a survey carried out with over 800 Irish females recently. It seems that we're no strangers to hang-ups in our appearance, love lives and careers, with the majority of women experiencing a crisis in confidence in at least one of the three. Almost a third (30%) of Irish women are not confident about their body and appearance. Interestingly, 45+ year old females are the most confident age group about their body and appearance. The most common body hang-up among over half of all Irish women is having a big tummy (55%), followed by a jelly belly (44%) and cellulite (31%). 25-34 year old Irish females are the most likely to have body hang-ups compared to all other age group. Almost a third (29%) of 45+ year old females’ biggest hang-up is wrinkles or fine lines. This is significantly higher than all other age groups. 1 in 5 Irish females say a bad hair day also affects their confidence levels, this was most prevalent among 35-44 year olds (26%). When it comes to love, almost a quarter of Irish females think a lack of confidence has definitely affected their love life or relationships before. A lack of confidence is more likely to have affected the love life of younger females than older females. Hang-ups about their appearance has affected almost half (46%) of females relationships in some way. A quarter of Irish females say they don’t like their partner to see or touch certain parts of their body. Meanwhile in the workplace, three-quarters of Irish women say their confidence has held them back in their career at some point in their life. This was more prevalent among 25-34 (79%) and 35-44 (82%) aged women. 1 in 5 Irish women who were held back in their career due to a lack of confidence did not go for a promotion. While over a third believe they never come across very well in interviews (35%) or are too nervous to go for a job (35%). Almost half (48%) of Irish females’ body hang-ups have affected their career in same way. A quarter of Irish women wear certain outfits to work to conceal their body hang-ups. The research was carried out on behalf of website www.hangupyourhangups.co.uk, created by head&shoulders to help women build confidence with expert hints, tips and advice. One of the site’s contributors is head & shoulders ambassador, T.V. presenter and writer, Dawn O’Porter, who says, “I used to care so much what people thought of me that I would shift my entire view point on a subject just so I could agree with whoever I was with at the time. The older and wiser I get, the more I realise I would rather be true to myself than be someone I'm not."