International Women’s Day is important, but we need more than lip-service from brands
With International Women’s day being celebrated on the 8th of March, we felt it important to pay homage to feminism and how far it has come. But in keeping with our ethos, we are going to display bravery and cut through the lip-service that too often occurs with brands. A token public statement or hashtag out of the year in support of a social cause is simply not enough to make meaningful change. We are here to unearth truths, as we do in all our work, and look at the brands that have genuinely made a lasting impact.
So let us begin, first by understanding feminism’s narrative.
FIRST WAVE FEMINISM: 1920s-1940s
First wave feminists, the suffragettes, argued that women were treated as second-class citizens and fought for political equality in the form of votes for women. They not only struggled for the vote, but for education and employment in certain professions.
Motivation: Emancipation & acceptance
SECOND WAVE FEMINISM: 1960s-1980s
With the right to vote won, attention turned to the wider societal norms. Traditional female traits and prescribed roles should be as valued as male ones, and women should not be forced to remain as housewives. Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique said “I thought there was something wrong with me because I didn’t have an orgasm waxing the kitchen floor.” However she attested that the fault wasn’t her own, but in the systematic sexism that denied women the chance to use their creativity and intellect.
Motivation: Equality & freedom
THIRD WAVE FEMINISM: 1990s-2010s
The third wave fought against the sexualisation and objectification of women and the policing of bodies. The movement highlighted that women were not merely male’s subordinates, but rather beings with the power to achieve and the freedom to express their individual sexuality.
Motivation: Smashing conventions & expressing individuality
FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM: 2018-Current
Here we see feminism characterised by a focus on empowerment and technology. The intersectionality of this wave acknowledges and celebrates diversity and seeks to ensure everyone is heard. Today’s feminism utilises digital media as a far-reaching platform and communication tool to ignite movements, support and awareness – most notably was the #metoo movement
Motivation: Empowerment & fulfilment
The #thisgirlcan ad campaign by Sports England. Source: The Guardian
Selling Empowerment
Femvertising is nothing new. In the 60s, Virginia Slims marketed its cigarettes to women with the tagline “You’ve come a long way, baby” (after years of battling for your rights, what better way to cool down than with a refreshing cigarette).
Today in the digital era we see an onslaught of advertising campaigns portraying brands as ‘feminist allies’ from Pantene to Barbie. While these adverts do help raise awareness of women’s issues, the embers of potential change are quickly snuffed out by slacktivism.
The problem with simply sending out a feel-good marketing message is that it speaks to women as individual consumers with individual choices - but feminism is about collectivism and community. According to Professor and current Head of the London School of Economics and Political Science's Media and Communication Department, Sarah Banet-Weiser, “Advertising can’t speak to collective politics because it’s about the individual consumer” (Thenextweb, 2018).
We don’t need feminist advertising — we need companies to hire more women (and at the same pay rates as men), have more women in leadership roles, and implement diverse hiring strategies.
Brands getting it right
We want to showcase a handful of brands that have feminism in-built into their structure long-term.
Kin Fertility
Kin Fertility allows women to easily access reproductive health services, products and information online. Empowering women with the information, products and access to health care they need to take control of their fertility.
(Source: Kin Fertility, 2021)
Salesforce
Fairygodboss has Salesforce listed as #6 on their Top Tech Companies for Women in 2018, and it made #11 on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list in 2019. With flexible time off policies, a proactive professional development policy, Lean In circles at its offices, and a gradual return-to-work schedule for new parents, it’s easy to see why. Then there’s the 26 weeks of parental leave given to primary caregivers and another 12 weeks if you’re the secondary caregiver.
(Source: Skillcrush 2020)
Adobe
Adobe reached pay parity in 2018 and have stated they view pay equity as a journey versus a destination. Ensuring pay parity at one point in time isn’t enough — as their workforce shifts and the company grows, they want to maintain this same level of fairness moving forward.
(Source: Adobe, 2018)
Bumble
Unsurprisingly, a woman-founded company whose mission states “We promote accountability, equality, and kindness in an effort to end misogyny and re-write archaic gender roles” takes women’s leadership and growth seriously. At Bumble, employees have sit downs to discuss their career trajectories every few months and are encouraged to work flexible schedules that meet their needs.
(Source: Ripplematch, 2020)
Many technological, innovative, and disruptive companies are having meaningful impact on women’s wellbeing, such as providing an even ground with men to be able to excel in their careers, or even taking control of their reproductive health. But where are the FMCG brands?
The noticeable exception in FMCG land is L’Oreal who do truly live their tagline ‘because you’re worth it!’.
For the 3rd year in a row, L’Oréal is among the TOP 5 most gender-balanced companies of the world in the Equileap 2019 ranking.
“L’Oréal is engaged in favour of Diversity and Inclusion for many years and the fight for workplace gender equality is one of our top priorities for more than 15 years. Now the commitment of the companies at a worldwide level encourages us to pursue our efforts and to continue to be ambitious on these subjects. Today, our extra-financial performance is as essential as our financial performance.”
Jean-Claude Le Grand,
Executive Vice President Human Relations at L’Oréal.
The future has always been female
Thanks to the feminist movements, two of the most significant revolutions of the century have been women’s increased education, and their greater participation in the paid labour force. These have helped to reshape consumerism and brand engagement. Women are the key decision makers, influencing 85% of all purchases made at home and account for and $7 trillion dollars’ worth of consumer spending (Forbes, 2020).
Pro-social companies and CSR were once niche expectations coming mostly from women, but today it is a demand made across genders and generations of consumers. Values-based marketing is the new norm. Women are also a large influence being the primary caregiver of children and elderly – they not only spend on themselves, but for others’ behalf also. (Forbes, 2020)
In celebration of International Women’s Day it is important for brands to not just pay lip service via lovely ad campaigns, but rather implement real change within their organisations to ensure true gender equality.
