GENDER gap has remained prevalent in the corporate scene, yet enterprises are becoming more aware and responsive to prop up policies that promote equality and defy biases against women and, eventually, realize the economic gains.
One way of breaking the stereotypes, according to consumer goods giant Unilever, is through advertising, wherein addressing concerns on the conventional portrayal of the female populace proves to be fair and rewarding.
“It is important for business because currently consumers are shifting to subscribe to ‘purposeful brands’—supporting brands which are conscious of [their] footprint and foster a positive and inclusive message for everyone, regardless of gender,” Unilever Philippines told the BusinessMirror through an e-mail interview.
In “The Unstereotyped Mindset” study of the company, it cited that a recent business case for the positive presentation of gender revealed that forward-thinking advertising is 12 percent more effective in delivering better impact for the brand.
Despite this, however, the multinational has found that 50 percent of the more than 1,000 advertisements studied globally in the past recent years had a stereotypical portrayal of women. It, likewise, discovered that 40 percent of the female audience do not identify themselves with the women they see in ads across the industry.
This is a reality that shows a slack of representation and diversity in the media, Unilever said, adding that gender stereotypes inhibit parity between men and women.
Stereotype is a word used to define all people of a certain belief into a mostly negative category that may only reflect a selected few of the racial demographics.
It leads to prejudice and discrimination, as well as “hold people back, damage society and destroy brands”.
The battle
BY and large, all nationalities have become victims of being stereotyped, even those who also committed it to other people.
In fact, the World Economic Forum reported in 2016 that there’s still a widening gap on both sexes. At the current level, it said women may not reach economic equality for another 170 years.
Per international research firm Athena Insight, however, 58 percent of women-empowerment believers agreed that there would be greater economic prosperity, as 57 percent said that businesses with women leaders are more likely to be successful.
“[So] businesses are recognizing the positive feedback in empowering women,” Unilever said. “There is a growing trend worldwide for business to address the gender wage gap and promote gender equity in the workplace.”
In pursuit of gender balance, Unilever commissioned a study to know how stereotypes and cultural norms impact the workplace worldwide.
Of the 4,029 respondents—3,905 white-collar and 1,158 supply-chain employees across eight countries—60 percent of women agreed that stereotypes impact people’s careers and lives globally, and 49 percent of men subscribed to this. Fifty-nine percent of women versus 51 percent of their male counterparts believed that “Boys Club”, or a term for a group that allows men only to become members, leads to inequality, as 65 percent of them against 55 percent of men witnessed this in their place of work.
The research also bared that women are fixed until their kind of leadership resembles those of men. It said 61 percent of the respondents indicated that most firms want women to lead like men, rather than letting women lead like themselves.
As regards attitude, women feel pressured to get over the bad behaviors of their male coworkers, as 67 percent of them observed “inappropriateness”.
Women are also victims of double standards in the workplace. Fifty-seven percent of women and 51 percent of men thought that a woman should also be nice and look good in leading the firm, while a man is simply expected to lead. Globally, 61 percent agreed women colleagues are often distracted by kids or family concerns. On the other hand, only 29 percent said this about men.
These, and other stereotypes, build perceptions on women as being risky investments, the research further revealed. “[So the] 55 percent of respondents in the survey who agreed that ‘women are viewed as a risky investment, as they often prioritize families over career,’ leads to a perception that women are liabilities—not assets—at work,” Unilever stressed.
Equality within organization
BIGOTRY, which has been a perennial concern globally, continues to lurk around in the international trade arena.
For Indian national Leena Nair, the youngest chief human-resource officer of Unilever, this has been a widespread concern not only in her native country, but worldwide.
Nair bared that she herself had experienced being stereotyped in the companies she has worked with in the past. With sheer determination and grace, however, she conquered it.
“A good thick skin, tremendous focus, be focused on impact, and be very open to feedback because you have to constantly adapt your style to fit in different countries, in different places,” she said during the recent Unilever Philippines’s forum on ending stereotypes and biases experienced by women in their workplaces, titled “#Unstereotype”.
Sharing the same experience with her is Lynette Ortiz, the first Filipino CEO of the Standard Chartered Bank of the Philippines.
Though experienced as a banker, she revealed that she sometimes had to “downplay” her being a female in the banking world dominated by men. “You know I just wanted to conquer down, to work, be really good at what I was doing and not so much emphasize on the fact that I was the only woman in that dealing room,” Ortiz noted.
When asked if they have experienced difficulties in leading their men workers, both Nair and Ortiz pointed out that their leadership styles don’t distinguish, whether you are male or female.
The panelists also gave advice to women who have experienced, and might have been experiencing, such treatment at work.
“Just don’t mind them. Just go on with your life with utmost normalcy. Comply with your obligations. Forget that you’re [a] woman, transgender, LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender], just forget about it. And prove them wrong, little by little, day by day,” Rep. Geraldine Roman of the First District of Bataan said.
Good biz sense
RECOGNIZING the unspoken stereotypes is simply addressing the gender gap.
This works for the Dutch-British transnational firm, whose priority is to leverage its clout and lead transformational change in many aspects, including equilibrium on both sexes, as women are pivotal to the organization.
Globally, seven of 10 Unilever customers are women, accounting for three-fourths, or 77 percent, of its sales.
“As a company with a wide global reach, this is an opportunity for Unilever to leverage influence to drive change in different areas, which includes the empowerment of women,” the company said, while citing that women are controlling nearly two-thirds, or 65 percent, of consumer spending, and are the fastest growing market in the world today.
“Recognizing that the consumer-goods industry has the power to shape perceptions, Unilever is taking the lead to use this power in a positive manner for its consumers,” it added.
In so doing, Unilever launched #Unstereotype—an international movement aimed at changing society’s perception on gender.
The firm has committed to create roles that will widely represent the various personalities and appearances that are real and positive, giving inspiration to people to become what they want to be. This is evident in the ad campaigns across its brands.
Unilever’s male grooming product Axe, for instance, is doing a turnaround from exhibiting conventional forms of masculinity to celebrating the individuality and different personalities of men.
Through its #loveatfirsttaste tack, Knorr highlights that food and cooking are both pleasures that can be enjoyed by everyone.
In the Philippines alone, the “Dove Real Beauty” campaign is one of the global campaigns which celebrate body diversity and different types of Filipina beauty.
Neil Trinidad, marketing director for Dove Masterbrand, said in a previous report of Adobo magazine: “The world over is experiencing a real movement toward liberating the definitions of beauty and we want women everywhere to celebrate what makes them unique—their features, their roles and their sense of pride in being who they are, as they are.”
“For the last 60 years, we have supported women all over the world to see beauty as a source of confidence and [an] avenue of true self-expression and never of anxiety. Through this campaign, we not only wanted the opportunity to work with so many women from diverse backgrounds, but also encourage conversations toward evolving to a wider definition of beauty in the Philippines,” he said.
Given the results of the company’s “The Unstereotyped Mindset” study, the global head of marketing of Unilever signed a memorandum with all the top ad agencies in the world, wherein they agreed to change stereotype portrayals of women in advertising for the next generation.
Business-wise, the company said doing so has earned it a “double-digit” growth for its brands. What’s more, it added that even its competitors have followed suit to present women in their campaigns in a positive light and more relatable to the market.
Beyond advertising, the Unstereotype initiative, likewise, aims to remove unconscious bias applied within the Unilever organization.
Based on the study, when sexism occurs in the workplace, women get fewer opportunities, hurt their performance and, eventually, stifle their careers.
With this in mind, the company champions diversity and inclusion within its work environment. Employing 169,000 employees in more than 100 nations, it develops an inclusive culture that respects gender, age, race, disability or sexual orientation of its people.
As the heart of its business, both internally and externally, women comprised nearly half, or 46 percent, of its executive management internationally. In the Philippines it is also fairly implementing a gender-balanced work environment, given that women hold 48.8 percent of leadership roles in the organization.
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