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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-07-29 Daily Xml
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Body Image Campaign

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:57): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about how the government has empowered young South Australian women.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: The minister has spoken in this chamber before about the commitment this government made to a body image campaign in the lead-up to the 2014 state election. Can the minister inform the chamber about the online reach achieved through the government's body image campaign?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:58): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in this particular policy area. I know he is the father of a young teenage daughter and that he has a very keen interest in ensuring that young South Australian women grow up with a healthy attitude around body image.

It gives me great pleasure to report that during the course of this body image campaign we had, I think, 195,200 shares on social media, an impressive reach for what is a simple but really important message. It is my hope that, even though this six-week campaign has now ended, the positive message will continue to proliferate in social media. This was an organically reached number. To put it into context, in the 2013-14 financial year, WIS social media accounts reached just 59,000 accounts.

To refresh members' memories, this was a digital media campaign aimed to inspire girls aged seven to 12 to build their self-esteem, to love their bodies and to realise that their value comes from their character, skills and other attributes, not their body weight and shape. Recognising that most social media sites do not allow children under 13 to join, the WIS ensured that content was created that parents could view with girls aged seven to 12 to encourage discussion and that they could share within their social media network.

I was very proud to launch this campaign on 6 May 2015, International No Diet Day. The Office for Women, through the Women's Information Service, partnered with the YWCA in the development and delivery of the digital media campaign. Their campaign was delivered through the Women's Information Service digital media presence on the social media sites, including a Facebook site, Twitter and Pinterest.

Content was created by young women aged 13 to 18 during three one-day workshops. These one-day workshops provided these young women and their mentors with information about body image and the fact that it contributes to positive body esteem in order to provide a context for the creation of the campaign content. The content created was of incredibly high value, and I would certainly encourage members who have not viewed it to check it out via the Women's Information Service Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

To encourage greater involvement and engagement from all girls and women around South Australia in the campaign and to highlight the key message that character, skills and attributes matter more than size, weight or shape, volunteers also produced 'inner selfies', vignettes of objects that represent who they are and their internal character and sense of self-worth.

These 'inner selfies' were shared on the Women's Information Service Facebook page and other forums that have been provided by women from across South Australia. It is just a fabulous array of wonderful portraits. It was great to see the women of Roxby Downs, in particular, embrace their inner selfies with such enthusiasm that an exhibition was held at the Roxbylink Gallery in April 2015.

We know that parents in particular have a really important role in supporting the development of positive self-esteem. Throughout this campaign queries to WIS have revealed that parents sometimes can lack confidence to discuss this with their children. In order to learn more about the information needs of parents and guardians who have concerns about their children's body image, WIS will be running a survey, starting from 12 August. This survey will also provide an opportunity to learn more about the forms of information delivery that would be most useful to parents to increase their confidence to have these conversations with their children around body image issues.

Empowering the next generation of South Australian women to have pride and confidence in themselves, their bodies and their attributes is incredibly important. I am pleased to be able to report on the reach this body image campaign has had, and I hope that the positive messages continue to be heard.

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