No amount of success or accolades can stop some people from feeling like an imposter — especially women.
More than half of women experience imposter syndrome at some point, according to a new poll of 4,000 adults.
Imposter syndrome, or the feeling that you don’t deserve certain achievements, has hindered romantic and platonic relationships as well as parenting, the respondents admitted.
The poll, conducted by OnePoll, was commissioned by Galaxy Chocolates as part of the brand’s video series “How to Thrive” in partnership with the organization Young Women’s Trust.
British TV personality AJ Odudu joined Galaxy to raise awareness about imposter syndrome, even admitting she’s experienced it before.
“Imposter syndrome can be a crippling entity which impacts so many areas of everyday life,” she said. “It can consume you whilst on social media, it can take over when away from home for the first time at university, it can also have an impact when forging friendships.”
Even the most influential and successful individuals have experienced the sometimes debilitating emotions. Paige Spiranac, a young golf influencer, and Suni Lee, a gold medal gymnast, have spoken publicly about their own struggles.
A stark 62% of women polled said they have rarely felt confident in their lives, while just over half claimed to struggle with self-doubt, incompetence and feeling underqualified. Most often these negative feelings happened in the workplace, according to 72% of women, while 29% said it occurred in educational settings or while spending time with friends.
Imposter syndrome begins to sneak in around the age of 23, the women reported, with one-fifth of respondents admitting that the pressure to “have it all” aggravated the feelings.
Men, on the other hand, did not share the same experience. In fact, 54% of men polled said they had never felt imposter syndrome.
Of the men who had experienced imposter syndrome, a majority only felt it in the workplace – but only 37% have spoken about it, compared to the quarter of women who were open about their feelings.
Shockingly, only 30% of women attempted to remedy it. Those who hadn’t claimed they “don’t know where to start” when tackling their self-doubts, and half just learned to suffer with it.
Social media, respondents agreed, plays a role in self-doubt. 44% of people said constant comparison and being a self-identified “perfectionist” led to a lack of confidence, and 63% said it was connected to their imposter syndrome.
“Young women face many challenges reaching their potential, progressing in life, and earning what they should,” said Claire Reindorp, the CEO of Young Women’s Trust. “They’re more likely to be in lower paid jobs and sectors of the economy, and more likely to get stuck there.”
“At a time in life when women should be growing and learning, they’re instead too often trapped in a struggle just to get by,” she added, applauding Galaxy’s efforts to combat the issue.
Victoria Gell, the spokesperson for Galaxy, said the company aims to “empower young women” that can “enable the next generation to thrive.”
“From the work we do supporting women in our cocoa growing regions with education, finance support, and entrepreneurship, to campaigns such as this, we want to help make a difference.”