Hey!
Maybe you’re reading this while enjoying a cup of coffee in your office or unwinding at home. However, this is not the case everywhere in the world.
Today, we’ll show you a different side of the world that exist in practice and not just in words.
Where doing household tasks and generating money simultaneously for the family isn’t a big deal, where preserving the peace at home is more important than a family member’s mental health, where women work harder and aren’t given 100% credit, and where people can’t be themselves due to the discrimination.
Yes, these are the everyday moment in this 21st century.
The world has been shouting about gender equality for years. The majority of the businesses, companies and brands’ objectives are rooting for this. But does it really work? Also, when it comes to Gender Equality, it is broader than we think, it is not only about Men and Women, it includes LGBTQ too.
Now, let’s roll the dice over to the insights of industries.
Yes, there has been progressed over the last decades. The fact that most the countries have equal education access for both men and women, more women being in parliaments, and more. But when it comes to the workplace, discrimination can be observed subtly. At the workplace, when you meet the requirement of one position, have a specific skillset, motivated to accomplish your goals, overall you might think you are doing great. But not everyone thinks that way because of your existence.
According to the UN Report (https://www.un.org/en/desa/world’s-women-2020), among Fortune 500 corporations only 7.4%, or 37 Chief Executive Officers, were women, there is no crack in the glass ceiling. And In 2020, only 47% of women of working age participated in the labour market, compared to 74% of men – a gender gap that has remained relatively constant since 1995. In Southern Asia, Northern Africa, and Western Asia, the number is even lower, with less than 30% of women participating in the labour market. According to a survey of LGBTQ professionals by LinkedIn, 25% of the respondents say they have been intentionally denied career advancement opportunities, such as promotions and raises because of their identity. Also, the pay gap has been one of the biggest issues in every industry.
Changing the profile picture on social media, doing Women’s March campaigns or creating Pride ads, and stating that they stand in solidarity with the group, isn’t enough. Doing these just for the sake of doing, is just a symbolic or artificial movement. Every industry should praise being diverse, appreciate people’s excellency at work and treat them equally. And it is not an easy task however we have seen some lights.
Creativity is magic that sparks in people’s minds and it can make changes. Talking about the advertising agencies, they are the ones shifting the perspective of people through ads. Back then, we have seen the ads that discriminated the women and nowadays, they are recreating to back against that. Also, ads are highlighting more and more social norms and social problems that let people see things through a different lens and make them realise what is really happing in society. It helps break the norms.
Gender Equality shouldn’t be a big issue, it should be fundamental. It should be normal that practiced at home, in the workplace, and everywhere. Some brands are taking it more seriously about stereotyping and trying to break it. For example, the #SeeEqual #ShareTheLoad campaign commercial where beautifully crafted the inequality prevailing with the house chores, with the message, when we see equality, we share the load. Another example is “Inequality gets Learnt, Equality needs teaching” which shoots a very strong message, that we might knowingly or unknowingly raise the children to be gender-biased and Inequality gets learned so, so Equality needs teaching.
Last but not least is an “A New Beginning” campaign that shared a powerful message about including LGBTQ in the workplace. When everyone starts to accept people for who they really are, they can start to show you what they can be capable of. These are a few ad campaigns that are a perfect example of how a brand can spread an impactful message to the world in minutes. This kind of movement is precious and it is the starting engine of the long journey of bringing Equality into our daily life.
This is the era of human-focus company culture! Some businesses are adjusting their policies to ensure that employees feel cared about as human beings and boosting their diversity to build a more dynamic relationship based on trust and empathy. So why do we treat people differently based on their gender, sexual orientation, or colour? We know this is not a one-day job, but beautiful processes take time. At GRIP, we daily build a better world where every single one shout “Equality” out loud from their heart proudly.