Women should love themselves

In a cross generational study conducted by Weight Watchers, younger women, on average, have 50 per cent less positive thoughts about themselves a day compared to their mothers’ generation and a third more negative thoughts per day.

For UK women, there is a strong correlation between body confidence and overall happiness, with 20 per cent of women aged 50-65 reporting having body confidence in their 30s and 74 per cent of the same group agreeing they were happy in themselves. Less than 10 per cent of today’s 30 year olds felt they were happy in their appearance, with only 66 per cent feeling happy overall.

However, young women reported higher degrees of confidence in their relationships and professional capabilities than their mother’s generation did at their age and the older women surveyed agreed that today’s young women are much more empowered (58 per cent) than they were.

The research has been conducted as part of #WomanKind, a campaign that explores why modern women are unkind to themselves and how they can make healthier choices by focusing on building greater self belief to build better relationships with themselves.