When Rosie Batty talks, you listen. So when she says, “we’re all worth it,” you hear it and you believe it. “We all go through setbacks in life – whether it’s a relationship falling apart, an illness, or losing a loved one – those things can shatter your confidence and make you question your worth. I think real strength comes from pushing through adversity and putting one foot in front of the other until you arrive at a place where you feel proud of yourself,” says Batty, 59, who was named Australian of the Year in 2015 for her campaign against family violence.
In the years since 2014 – when her 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father at a cricket oval on the Mornington Peninsula – Batty has had to push through adversity time and again; facing the media to make a stoic statement after the horrific tragedy, addressing the court at an inquest into her son’s death, launching a domestic violence foundation in Luke’s honour and then stepping away from it to “take time to breathe.”
Featured within marie claire’s April issue, Batty is proud to support the marie claire x L’Oréal Paris Know Your Worth campaign, alongside a host of other strong, awe-inspiring women including cover girl Jessica Mauboy, chef and TV presenter Poh Ling Yeow, and athlete Ellyse Perry. “This is about all women being empowered and able to celebrate their inner beauty. We all deserve to be able to thrive, laugh, follow our passion and have hope for the future,” she says. “For women struggling with their self-esteem, I want them to know that it’s normal. It’s human. Recognise it, give it a place, but don’t let it define or limit you.”
The L’Oréal Paris tagline “Because I’m Worth It” turns 50 this year – but as a collective, we still have a long way to go on our journey to self-acceptance and realising our full potential. The numbers are scary: new research commissioned by L’Oréal Paris1 found that 94 per cent of Australian women say they experience low self-esteem with 39 per cent experiencing it daily. Nearly 70 per cent say self-doubt is their biggest block to success and in the workplace, only 44 per cent of women feel confident to ask for a pay rise (compared to 62 per cent of men).
When she feels nervous, scared or insecure, Batty thinks of a book that sat on her shelf for years: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. “That title really spoke to me – and I feel like that’s what I’ve done. I’ve pushed through the fear until the moments of joy became more frequent than the moments of deep pain and sadness,” explains Batty.
Brought to you by L’Oréal Paris.
1 Source: Bastion Insights survey with n=701 Australian women aged 18 and over, November 2020.
