They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but who is that, exactly? Is it the advertising industry? The patriarchy? The person sitting opposite us in a job interview? The trolls on Twitter? Or the lens of your smartphone?

Today, we are drenched in imagery that tells us beauty is Caucasian, youthful, slim and tanned. But it wasn’t too long ago that beauty meant pale and plump; and in non-western countries, there’s a completely different ideal being projected upon women, altogether.

Are beautiful women more likely to succeed? How much time do women spend perfecting their image – in reality or on social media? Why is image so important for women- is it more important for men?

This last month alone, we’ve seen a young woman abandon social media because it made her feel pressure to conform to unrealistic beauty ideals – through dieting, photo-editing and obsessing endlessly about how many 'likes' she received. Soon after, another Instagram star decided to only post realistic images to her social media and, as a result, lost thousands of followers - so unsatisfied were people by reality.

The pressure and expectation to conform and how to react to those pressures is an ongoing feminist issue – and one that the BBC is attempting to understand in its 100 Women debates.

Fiona Crack, BBC 100 Women Editor says: “The level of response we’ve had of people wanting to take part [in the debate] is testament to how needed they are.”

Here’s what the women at the BBC's debate had to say on the topic:

On beauty and success

“Attractive women are more likely to succeed” A debate on feminism and body image