Women’s Self-Confidence in Education and Social Welfare: A Systematic Literature Review Based on International Women’s Day Insights
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70211/wesw.v2i1.298Keywords:
Education, Self Confidence, Social Welfare, WomenAbstract
This study systematically reviews and synthesizes recent research on women’s self-confidence within the intersecting domains of education and social welfare, viewed through the normative and symbolic framework of International Women’s Day (IWD). Adopting a systematic literature review (SLR) design based on the PRISMA protocol, the analysis integrated evidence from 100 articles retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar between 2020 and 2024, of which 10 met the inclusion criteria after rigorous screening and quality appraisal. The findings reveal that women’s self-confidence functions as both a psychological resource and a social capital that bridges educational attainment, economic participation, and welfare engagement. Education consistently emerged as the most influential determinant of confidence, enhancing women’s decision-making capacity, autonomy, and leadership readiness, while social welfare systems acted as contextual enablers that transform confidence into tangible well-being. The synthesis further indicates that confidence mediates the relationship between educational empowerment and welfare realization, underscoring its dual role as both outcome and driver of gender equity. The discussion situates these findings within feminist social theory, self-efficacy, and capability frameworks, arguing that self-confidence is a relational construct shaped by institutional inclusion and socio-cultural norms. This review highlights the need for integrated educational welfare programs that incorporate psychosocial mentoring and policy support to sustain women’s empowerment. The implications of this study emphasize that fostering women’s self-confidence is not merely a matter of individual growth but a strategic and structural pathway toward inclusive social transformation and equitable development.
References
U. Nations, “International Women’s Day | United Nations”, Accessed: Oct. 03, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.un.org/en/observances/womens-day
“International Women’s Day 2025: For All Women and Girls Across Europe and Central Asia | UN Women – Europe and Central Asia.” Accessed: Oct. 03, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://eca.unwomen.org/en/stories/news/2025/03/international-womens-day-2025-for-all-women-and-girls-across-europe-and-central-asia
T. W. Bank, T. Initiative, C. Barriers, A. Agreement, A. Members, and A. Agreement, “Celebrating the International Women ’ s Day , 8 th March , with Gender Lens on Standardisation , Trade and Gender Policy Initiatives for Women ’ s Empowerment and Reflecting on UN and AU gender,” 2024.
A. Pignault, M. Rastoder, and C. Houssemand, “The Relationship between Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Career Decision-Making Difficulties: Psychological Flourishing as a Mediator,” Eur. J. Investig. Heal. Psychol. Educ., vol. 13, no. 9, pp. 1553–1568, Aug. 2023, doi: 10.3390/ejihpe13090113.
A. Malureanu, G. Panisoara, and I. Lazar, “The Relationship between Self-Confidence, Self-Efficacy, Grit, Usefulness, and Ease of Use of eLearning Platforms in Corporate Training during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 12, p. 6633, Jun. 2021, doi: 10.3390/su13126633.
A. J. Vance and D. H. Brandon, “Delineating Among Parenting Confidence, Parenting Self-Efficacy, and Competence,” Adv. Nurs. Sci., vol. 40, no. 4, pp. E18–E37, Oct. 2017, doi: 10.1097/ANS.0000000000000179.
D. Achak et al., “Self-esteem, body image, and associated factors among female and male university students: A cross-sectional study,” J. Educ. Health Promot., vol. 14, no. 1, Feb. 2025, doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_960_24.
A. Moraga-Pumarino, S. Salvo-Garrido, and V. Ortiz-Cea, “Gender, Self-Efficacy, and Academic Performance: Evidence in Business Education Program,” Behav. Sci. (Basel)., vol. 15, no. 5, p. 563, Apr. 2025, doi: 10.3390/bs15050563.
I. G. Andersen and E. Smith, “Social Contexts and Gender Disparities in Students’ Competence Beliefs: The Role of Gender-Stereotypical Beliefs and Achievement Patterns in the Classroom for Students’ Self-Concept in Gender-Stereotypical Subjects,” Front. Educ., vol. 7, May 2022, doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.840618.
H. Zhang, X. Zhou, M. S. Nielsen, and K. Klyver, “The Role of Stereotype Threat, Anxiety, and Emotional Intelligence in Women’s Opportunity Evaluation,” Entrep. Theory Pract., vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 1699–1730, Sep. 2023, doi: 10.1177/10422587221096905.
B. Ertl, S. Luttenberger, and M. Paechter, “The Impact of Gender Stereotypes on the Self-Concept of Female Students in STEM Subjects with an Under-Representation of Females,” Front. Psychol., vol. 8, May 2017, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00703.
C. Isaac, A. Kaatz, B. Lee, and M. Carnes, “An Educational Intervention Designed to Increase Women’s Leadership Self-Efficacy,” CBE—Life Sci. Educ., vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 307–322, Sep. 2012, doi: 10.1187/cbe.12-02-0022.
A. Croft, C. Atkinson, G. Sandstrom, S. Orbell, and L. Aknin, “Loosening the GRIP (Gender Roles Inhibiting Prosociality) to Promote Gender Equality,” Personal. Soc. Psychol. Rev., vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 66–92, Feb. 2021, doi: 10.1177/1088868320964615.
“In 2024 the world stepped forward to #InspireInclusion,” International Women’s Day. [Online]. Available: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/2024theme
Y. Gökçe, T. Huriye, and Ö. Işık, “International Women’s Day: Ostensible Celebrations or Historical Milestone of Women’s Emancipation,” OOO "Zhurnal "Voprosy Istor., vol. 2020, no. 12–2, pp. 150–165, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.31166/VoprosyIstorii202012Statyi30.
M. J. Page et al., “PRISMA 2020 explanation and elaboration: updated guidance and exemplars for reporting systematic reviews,” BMJ, p. n160, Mar. 2021, doi: 10.1136/bmj.n160.
A. Boaye Belle and Y. Zhao, “Evidence-based decision-making: On the use of systematicity cases to check the compliance of reviews with reporting guidelines such as PRISMA 2020,” Expert Syst. Appl., vol. 217, p. 119569, May 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.eswa.2023.119569.
M. Gusenbauer and S. P. Gauster, “How to search for literature in systematic reviews and meta-analyses: A comprehensive step-by-step guide,” Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change, vol. 212, p. 123833, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123833.
H. Zhang, C. Wu, J. Xie, Y. Lyu, J. Cai, and J. M. Carroll, “Harnessing the power of AI in qualitative research: Exploring, using and redesigning ChatGPT,” Comput. Hum. Behav. Artif. Humans, vol. 4, p. 100144, May 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.chbah.2025.100144.
W. M. Lim, “What Is Qualitative Research? An Overview and Guidelines,” Australas. Mark. J., vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 199–229, May 2025, doi: 10.1177/14413582241264619.
“Qualitative Data, Analysis, and Design,” in Introduction to Educational Research: A Critical Thinking Approach, 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks California 91320 United States: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012, pp. 342–386. doi: 10.4135/9781483384443.n12.
S. Rashid and V. Ratten, “A Systematic Literature Review on Women Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies While Reflecting Specifically on SAARC Countries,” 2020, pp. 37–88. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-35415-2_4.
C. Elliott, C. Mavriplis, and H. Anis, “An entrepreneurship education and peer mentoring program for women in STEM: mentors’ experiences and perceptions of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intent,” Int. Entrep. Manag. J., vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 43–67, Mar. 2020, doi: 10.1007/s11365-019-00624-2.
S. Franzke, J. Wu, F. J. Froese, and Z. X. Chan, “Female entrepreneurship in Asia: a critical review and future directions,” Asian Bus. Manag., vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 343–372, Jul. 2022, doi: 10.1057/s41291-022-00186-2.
T. Lind, A. Ahmed, K. Skagerlund, C. Strömbäck, D. Västfjäll, and G. Tinghög, “Competence, Confidence, and Gender: The Role of Objective and Subjective Financial Knowledge in Household Finance,” J. Fam. Econ. Issues, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 626–638, Dec. 2020, doi: 10.1007/s10834-020-09678-9.
T. H. H. Herbst, A. T. Roux, and V. Naidoo, “The year I found my voice: Transforming self-confidence through a women’s leadership programme,” Transform. High. Educ., vol. 9, Dec. 2024, doi: 10.4102/the.v9i0.438.
P. Bhuwania, A. Mukherji, and H. Swaminathan, “Women’s education through empowerment: Evidence from a community-based program,” World Dev. Perspect., vol. 33, p. 100568, Mar. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100568.
A. Chalayonnavin, “Increasing self‐esteem for vulnerable young women: A case study of entrepreneurship training for vulnerable young women in Thailand,” Br. J. Spec. Educ., vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 24–34, Mar. 2024, doi: 10.1111/1467-8578.12486.
G. Afshan, S. Shahid, and M. N. Tunio, “Learning experiences of women entrepreneurs amidst COVID-19,” Int. J. Gend. Entrep., vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 162–186, Aug. 2021, doi: 10.1108/IJGE-09-2020-0153.
M. M. Carneiro, “International women’s day: fighting for the right to health care while facing COVID-19,” Women Health, vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 219–220, Mar. 2021, doi: 10.1080/03630242.2021.1891622.
T. van der Lippe and Z. Lippényi, “Beyond Formal Access: Organizational Context, Working From Home, and Work–Family Conflict of Men and Women in European Workplaces,” Soc. Indic. Res., vol. 151, no. 2, pp. 383–402, Sep. 2020, doi: 10.1007/s11205-018-1993-1.
S. Graham, “Self-efficacy and language learning – what it is and what it isn’t,” Lang. Learn. J., vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 186–207, Mar. 2022, doi: 10.1080/09571736.2022.2045679.
W. Elsayed, “Building a better society: The Vital role of Family’s social values in creating a culture of giving in young Children’s minds,” Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 7, p. e29208, Apr. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e29208.
R. López Barreda, J. Robertson-Preidler, and P. Bedregal García, “Health assessment and the capability approach,” Glob. Bioeth., vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 19–27, Jan. 2019, doi: 10.1080/11287462.2019.1673028.
Y. Wang, Z. Zheng, X. Duan, M. Li, and Y. Li, “The Relationship between Mindfulness and Social Adaptation among Migrant Children in China: The Sequential Mediating Effect of Self-Esteem and Resilience,” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, vol. 19, no. 23, p. 16241, Dec. 2022, doi: 10.3390/ijerph192316241.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Bella Satiyo Putri, Raicha Oktafiani, Nadya Ulfha Sabila, and Dominikus Djago Djoa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.