A new global study challenges common notions about women's confidence and how it can be increased. The 3-year study conducted by strategic consulting firm Eranos surveyed over 11,000 women across 11 countries to understand, measure, and boost women's confidence worldwide.
The major finding: women's confidence is not an individual trait but is collectively built through interactions and relationships. This means empowering women requires collective, not just individual, action.
The study identified 14 different sources of confidence that women draw upon. These range from established sources like routine and support systems to interior sources like resilience and mythical sources like utopian beliefs. The mix varies by culture, but the key drivers of confidence everywhere facilitate social integration.
Globally, the study found women's confidence levels are moderate on average, with only 3.43% of women surveyed reporting high confidence. This challenges stereotypes that certain groups are far more confident than others.
Certain sources like support systems, routines, and intuition drive confidence by enabling women to integrate into society. However, resilience to adversity, sense of vocation, and rebelliousness can compromise confidence.
This groundbreaking data provides a blueprint for organizations, policymakers, and communities to take concrete steps to understand, measure, and boost women's confidence in their contexts. Measures like mentoring circles, self-care routines, and family engagement could make a real difference.
The study authors call for widely sharing the report and collaborating across sectors to transform women's experiences worldwide. When women's confidence grows, so does their empowerment to achieve their full potential and make positive impacts.
Key Points:
- Women's confidence is relational and collective, not just an individual trait. It is built through interactions and relationships with others, so empowering women requires collective action.
- The study identified 14 different sources of confidence that women draw upon, categorized into mythical, normative, interior, and established types. The mix of sources varies by culture.
- Globally, women's confidence levels are moderate on average, with only 3.43% reporting high confidence. This challenges the notion that some groups are far more confident than others.
- Certain sources like support systems, routine, and intuition drive confidence by facilitating social integration. Others like resilience, vocation, and transgression compromise confidence.
- The goal of the study is to provide data to help various actors in society take tangible actions to understand, measure, and increase women's confidence around the world.
The Largest Global Study to Understand, Measure and Increase Women’s Confidence:
https://womensconfidence.report
© Ai and Sophie Escrivant - FCEM 2023