Gender Equality: Still So Far To Go
As a woman living and working in 2018 there feels quite a lot to be cheery about. Women’s voices are increasingly being given a platform in a way that was unimaginable even ten years ago. The news seems to carry stories relating to gender inequality as much as it does Brexit. It feels as if the message is getting through; that women are no longer going to tolerate being treated as second class citizens.
This is reflected in our study on how people view women in advertising. 70% of people in the UK feel advertising only shows stereotypes. And we now expect to see women portrayed in ways that reflect their lives. We feel most positively towards brands when women are portrayed as professionals (33%) intellectuals (37% and as humorous (31%). This is compared to only 9% of people who view brands favourably which portray women as primarily responsible for domestic chores, only 8% which portray women primarily as objects of desire and just 9% where women are portrayed in a predominantly emotional way. Given that advertising expenditure in the UK reached £21.4 billion in 2016 it seems we need to be working much harder as an industry to reflect the images of women we transmit.[1]
Having women’s voices heard is a tremendous achievement and the more women stand up and make the case for equality, the more other women have the confidence to stand alongside them. And the more we clamour for reform and change whether be it in relation to childcare, pay or domestic violence the more we are likely to affect change. It is almost thrilling to hear companies revealing their gender pay gap – and the excuses often offered only serve to remind us that the more women get into positions of real power, the better.
With this feeling of optimism in mind it is then particularly interesting to look at the results of our 27 country study to mark International Women’s Day.
What the results serve to illustrate is the degree to which people, including researchers like me, feel more progress has been made, than actually has been made. For example, people around the world underestimate the prevalence of sexual harassment. In Britain 68% of women say they have experienced sexual harassment but the average guess is that it’s 55%. And in Sweden 81% of women say they have experienced sexual harassment but the guess is 56%
When it comes to the pace of change on pay and economic inequality people are even more wildly optimistic: When asked how quickly women will achieve economic equality around the world the average guess is within 35 years – the reality based on current rates of change modelled by The World Economic Forum is 217 years – which makes any optimism disappear quickly down the drain.
Also, we hugely over represent women’s representation in business leadership. We estimate that one in five (19%) of the world’s top 500 companies has a female CEO. The actual figure is a dismal 3%. When we look at the advertising industry change is happening. The 3% Movement which was created to draw attention to the lack of female creative directors has already increased the percentage to 11% - but of course that figure remains painfully low.[2]
So, it is clear that the fight for equality continues, and it’s a fight that won’t come easy. Let’s not believe the lie that we’ve already achieved it. As the abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass said back in 1857, ‘If there is no struggle, there is no progress’.
[1] Ipsos 1,125 adults in the UK aged 16-75 online 6-11 Oct 2017
