:: Girlgems ::
Background
The extent to which young women will go to achieve the unattainable goal of a body beautiful, is alarming: According to recent media reports, the number of young women suffering from eating disorders in Singapore has increased six fold since 1994, affecting younger women the most. Less than 25% of women describe themselves as beautiful and thousands are turning to cosmetic surgery. Despite being increasingly emancipated, these indicators suggest that young Singaporean women suffer from poor self-image and feel the pressure of having to conform to a certain standard of beauty.
Images of the ideal beauty are all around us in one form or another. These emphasize a narrow definition of how a woman should look and link women's appearances to their worth. It is hardly surprising that these images perpetuate the mindset that society has widely acknowledged. At the end of the day, the decision lies with us, the young women. We hope more women will take control of the situation and make the empowered choice of resisting these ideal notions of beauty.
The narrow definition of beauty offered by media images and society's mindset has left most young women walking a tightrope. As young women, let's work towards rejecting the beauty myth and reclaiming our body in an empowered way.
To this end, we are organizing a hip, fun and attractive event to promote confidence within one's self regardless of shape, size and colour which has an impact on younger women.
Concept
We have decided to name our event "Girlgems" as we believe that every girl is as unique, dazzling, sparkling and special in their own way, just like a gem.
Girlgems invites women from all walks of life to love themselves, to reaffirm their self-acceptance. Casting aside archaic notions of women as Barbie dolls, or second-class citizens, the event encourages women to be first class citizens, to embrace new and healthier role models of success and beauty.
Girlgems allows every woman to appreciate herself for what she is and what she hopes to become. It is a validation of self. It's about being comfortable with who you are and recognizing your potential to be all that you can be. It is about being true to yourself.
Girlgems is about YOU and everything you CAN be.
It is an all-female event held exclusively for youths ageing ranging from 13 to 21.This would be held on the 25th of August. Only females are allowed to participate in the competition. However, males are allowed to attend the event as a part of the audience. In this event, performing arts groups from several Secondary schools and Junior Colleges will be taking part in a competition, by performing basically anything that would promote self-esteem and confidence. They would have to form teams or participate in the solo category and perform a dance or a song.
Objectives
Through this event, we aim to positively impact on younger women in Singapore so that more women would be confident enough as themselves and not attempt to become anyone of the unhealthy media icons.
Our target is to raise $10,000 for AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research). AWARE is a registered Charity formed in 1985 that serves to provide women with optimal opportunities to realise their full potential.
The proceeds raised through the event will go to the youth public education programmes at AWARE. The funds raised will go a long way towards developing youth programs and workshops on self-esteem/body image, and other such programmes targeted at risky youth behaviour. The youth programmes under AWARE Training Institute serve to educate and empower youths to cope with the pressures of being young women and provide them with the skills, knowledge and information to make informed and responsible decisions. The funds will also benefit the research and campaign on Body Image.
We hope that sponsors will come forward and support us in our efforts to raise awareness to the issues of positive self–esteem in younger women, whilst raising funds for a worthy cause. If there are any sponsors who are willing to help, or any associations, companies or organisations who are willing to help with publicity, we would really appreciate it.
