Girlguiding impact report
Girlguiding empowers girls and boosts their confidence
This study shows that Girlguiding girls are up to 23% more confident than the UK average. And the influence of Girlguiding on girls' confidence more than doubles between early and mid-adolescence. These are positive findings for us to build on as we work towards closing the confidence gap even further.
UK girls are facing a confidence challenge
We know that girls are a powerful force for change in their own lives. But we also know, across all walks of life and communities, girls face challenges to their confidence. UK girls report consistently lower confidence and self-worth than UK boys.
In fact, in the UK, girls are between 3% and 12% less likely to report high confidence than boys – and the gap widens to as much as 24% by age 15.1
Girlguiding empowers girls and boosts their confidence
Our analysis shows that girls supported by Girlguiding are more likely to report higher confidence than UK girls.
“I think the thing that I’ve learnt is learning to use my voice confidently.”
Young leader
We know demographic characteristics have an impact on how girls feel. So where possible, we have taken this into account with our analysis by 'controlling' for the influence of key demographics. It means the differences you see in our results when comparing Girlguiding girls and UK girls cannot be explained by differences in ethnicity, disability and, for most of the findings, socioeconomic deprivation.
Compared to UK girls, Girlguiding girls (of all ages) are:
more likely to say they aren’t nervous in new situations
more likely to say they’re as able as others
more likely to say they have a number of good qualities
“It’s helped me to do stuff that I never really knew I could do.”
Brownie
Girlguiding impacts girls’ confidence when they need it most
In the UK, girls’ confidence falls from early adolescence onwards. We’re here to offer vital support to older girls as they face these challenges.
Our analysis shows that the influence of Girlguiding on girls’ confidence almost triples between early and mid-adolescence.2
At age 11, compared to UK girls, Girlguiding girls are 8% more likely to say they’re not nervous in new situations
At age 15, compared to UK girls, Girlguiding girls are 23% more likely to say they’re not nervous in new situations
Girlguiding girls also report higher confidence than UK girls and UK boys
Compared to UK boys and girls, Girlguiding girls (of all ages) are:
more likely to say they aren’t nervous in new situations
more likely to say they’re as able as others
more likely to say they have a number of good qualities3
“I think just the confidence that it gives you because of the things that you’ve done is quite empowering.”
Ranger
At age 11, compared to uk girls and UK boys, Girlguiding girls are 9% more likely to say they’re not nervous in new situations
At age 15, compared to UK girls and UK boys, Girlguiding girls are 23% more likely to say they’re not nervous in new situations
“It definitely makes you feel good and makes you feel empowered to do things. I can definitely feel my confidence growing as I’ve got older, undoubtedly because of Girlguiding.”
Young leader
The evidence shows that, by empowering girls to lead the way, Girlguiding girls develop all round higher confidence. But we want our impact to go even further. It’s troubling that UK girls’ wellbeing is on the decline and has been since 2009, with fewer girls saying they feel very happy4. We’ll continue working hard to reverse this trend, and always welcome new partnerships to help tackle these urgent issues.
1 Understanding Society (Waves 10-12, 2020-2022), sample size: 6269
2 Girlguiding (Waves 2-3, 2022) data compared to data from Understanding Society (Waves 10-12, 2020-20222), sample size: 6269
3 Girlguiding data compared to data from Understanding Society (Waves 10-12, 2020-2022), sample size: 6269
4 Girls' Attitudes Survey (2023), sample size: 2,614
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