Lessons That Matter: the insights powering Stylist's International Women's Day campaign

Think Stylist is the engine behind Stylist – shaping campaigns, informing messaging and grounding editorial content in real audience insight and understanding. Lessons That Matter is no exception. Our insights set the foundation for this ambitious brand moment, built to spark reflection, connection and meaningful conversation among women everywhere. 

This International Women’s Day, Stylist launched Lessons That Matter, a multi-channel social impact campaign asking one powerful question: 

“What is the one life lesson you wish you’d been taught in school?” 

With contributions from influential figures: Simone Biles, Chloe Kelly and Claudia Jessie, the campaign transforms their personal lessons into powerful, shareable statements, reframing the harmful messages many women absorbed growing up, and imagining what young girls should learn now instead. Alongside the storytelling, Stylist has created six free lesson plans with award-winning teachers and Young Minds which are free to download, ensuring the campaign doesn’t stop at inspiration but delivers real tools for change in classrooms across the UK. 

To shape the campaign’s direction, Think Stylist surveyed 1,000+ women across the UK, exploring the disconnect between what they learned growing up and what they wish the next generation could learn today. 

The findings were clear: 

• 90% believe schools still don’t teach many of the lessons women need 

• 88% say they had to learn those lessons “the hard way” 

We also turned to our Thinkfluencers, our collective of Gen Z and millennial women, for their experiences.

What emerged from our quantitative survey were three core themes shaping women’s lives today. 

Financial literacy is the biggest gap

Above everything else, financial education stood out as the most urgent unmet need. 

• 69% felt under‑supported in financial literacy growing up 

• 58% still want more education now 

Managing money was the No.1 lesson women would teach girls today. From budgeting and investing to understanding mortgages, women spoke with striking clarity about a confidence gap that continues well into adulthood. 

“You just aren’t taught basic things like how to get a mortgage or the best way to save” - Becky 

This reinforces findings from our F Word report, where 40% of young women said money is their biggest challenge.   For brands, this represents a powerful opportunity to educate, empower and build trust. 

Body image is prevalent

While financial skills were missing, other lessons were deeply internalised and harmful. Women described absorbing messages around: 

• how they should look 

• how they should behave 

• how much space they deserved to take up 

  
  

Half of the women said they felt pressured to be agreeable, while 40% recalled being encouraged to make themselves smaller or quieter.  These lessons have shaped women’s confidence, self‑worth and emotional wellbeing well into adulthood. 

A system out of balance

Women also reflected on the different ways in which boys and girls were treated growing up: 

• 75% said boys were treated differently at home or school 

• 68% felt boys were encouraged or prioritised in ways girls were not 

These early experiences have long-term consequences in terms of ambition, emotional labour and the roles women feel expected to fulfill.  

 Our Thinkfluencers echoed this, highlighting how unequal expectations continue to shape women’s choices today. As Wendy shared:

“I’ve seen friends stay with partners because they felt too scared or dependent to leave — convinced they wouldn’t be able to support themselves if they did.”

For brands, this presents a powerful opportunity: to amplify these conversations, challenge outdated norms, and stand alongside women as genuine allies.

What this tells us  

This research reveals a simple truth: the lessons we missed in childhood continue to shape how women think, feel and move through the world today. Many grew up encouraged to be capable and curious, yet also to stay small, be agreeable and choose safety over ambition. And what stood out most were the gaps: financial literacy, life skills, female health, consent, understanding power, trusting your instincts. Foundations too many women were never taught.

What women want now is clear: agency, boundaries, confidence and the permission to back themselves. And their message for the next generation is just as strong — take up space, question what you see, protect your mental health, try new things, surround yourself with people who lift you, and ensure boys understand misogyny so the responsibility for change doesn’t fall on girls alone.

This is why Think Stylist  exists: to help brands understand women not just as consumers, but as people shaped by culture, experience and expectation, and to use that insight to drive meaningful change.

Want to know more? Sign up to our monthly insights newsletter Muse  to make sure you always know what women are thinking or if you’d like to know more about the research and how it can help your brand please get in touch.