Girlguiding UK unveils drive to tackle 'role models deficit'

The charity’s Girls’ Attitudes Explored research, published earlier this year, found that young women are suffering from a lack of positive role models.

The research found many girls had access to only a narrow range of role models – largely from reality TV or the entertainment industry – which it warned is limiting young women’s aspirations for their future.

It also found that many girls dismissed entire industries and potential careers as "jobs for boys".

Broadcast journalist Becky Meehan and footballer Alex Culvin are among the women that the charity interviewed in a bid to show girls that “no career path is out of reach”.

Other participants include Yewande Akinola, a developmental services engineer, novelist Diane Messidoro, Anne Richards, chief investment officer at Aberdeen Asset Management, and Kelly Whiteman, a design engineer at Dyson.

Three MPs, Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson, Conservative Esther McVey and Labour’s Madeleine Moon, also took part.

Meehan, a financial news reporter for CNBC, said: “It’s so important to have a role model, it helps you form your own ambition. It’s quite reassuring and motivating to see someone that has achieved what you are trying to achieve, to see what other women have tried to do.”

“It’s a shame that reality TV [stars] and models have become the women with the highest profile in the media. When I was growing up there were a lot more positive women role models, and I hope that comes back again.”

A spokesman for Girlguiding UK added: “Our aim is for as many girls and young women as possible to be inspired by what they see, and to think more widely about where they want to go and what they want to do in the future."