Body Image/Health

There is evidence that media portrayals of the ‘perfect’ female aesthetic is a driver in eating disorders and psychological problems, however as a society we must take responsibility for the part we play in fuelling this industry – the popularity of magazines carrying commentaries on the physical appearance of celebrities leaves us in no doubt that there is an appetite for such critiques of the female aesthetic.

Fewer women take the recommended amount of exercise than men (at just over 21% versus 34%), putting them in greater danger of health risks in the future. By the age of 15, only 36% of girls are engaged in regular physical activity, compared to 71% of boys, whilst among 16-24-year-olds, twice as many young women as young men are seriously obese.[11] With rising obesity levels and highly sedentary activities dominating our everyday lives, there is an urgent need for women particularly to be enthused into taking up new sports and more active lives.

Good sexual health is very important but an issue of which many women remain largely ignorant. The incidence of sexually transmitted disease has been rising in the UK in recent years, particularly among young people, indicating that there is clearly much education which remains to be achieved on this topic.

A 2007 Healthcare Commission study showed that maternity services in the UK were of widely variable standards, with some women having extremely poor experiences of pregnancy, birth and ante-natal care.[12] In addition, there are problems caused by the central government drive for ‘efficiency’, as maternity units around the country are closed and patients diverted to larger centres which are usually further away. Women are often turned away from hospitals, even when in labour and attending their pre-planned, pre-booked hospital of choice, and this is largely as a result of staff shortages.[13] We believe that women and their families should have a choice about where they give birth, including the choice for a birth in a local hospital, a home birth or a birth in a midwife-led maternity unit.

Our policies on maternity pay and childcare provision are currently under review by a separate group and are presented for conference’s deliberation in The Best Start in Life.

  1. How can we encourage women to have a more healthy body image? What role could the media and advertising play in generating this change of attitude?
  2. How can we as society rebalance our ideas about female physical ‘perfection’ and challenge current trends in critiquing the female aesthetic? How can we ensure that models are healthy and maintain a healthy body weight?
  3. How can we make sport more attractive and appealing to women? How can this be achieved at school to give an early positive relationship with sport?
  4. Are there any incentives that could be used to encourage individuals to get healthy and active?
  5. How successful have the government’s awareness programmes and campaigns on sexual health been? Are there any improvements which could be made to increase awareness?
  6. How can we get the message about STIs across to all young people, making the most of new technologies and innovation?

[11] http://www.ywca-gb.org.uk/docs/Obesitybriefing.pdf
[12] http://www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/_db/_documents/Towards_better_births_200807221338.pdf
[13] http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/21/health.nhs

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