In recent months, there have been a plethora of campaigns aimed at creating greater gender equality, both in everyday life and in the workplace. Here, we take a look at some of the most prevalent initiatives that are getting global attention.
The #NotJustForBoys Campaign
This new government initiative aims to give women greater knowledge of their career choices at any stage in their lives. Although women have far more choice than their grandmothers had in terms of career prospects, there are several industries in which women are not being promoted to senior roles. #NotJustForBoys highlights several areas in engineering, broadcast media and graphic design that need to become fairer, and a multitude of big names and companies have offered their support to make it happen. Find out more from HR Review here.
Patricia Arquette Calls for Equal Pay
Patricia Arquette won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in coming-of-age drama Boyhood, and used the enormous platform that was her acceptance speech to put forth her opinion on the issue of equal pay. Hollywood still has a huge divide in pay; a fact that was solidified after leaked emails between Sony heads was made public. This revealed that the two male leads of film American Hustle, received 9% of the profits whereas the two female leads, one an Oscar winner, received 7%. The message of this speech has been a huge talking point and could help create lines of conversation within other industries. See The Guardian’s coverage here.
The #AskHerMore Campaign
Another actress who has been pioneering for women on the red carpet is comedy star Amy Poehler whose #AskHerMore campaign called for deeper and more probing questions to actresses rather than just what designer dress they are wearing. Reese Witherspoon, Julianne Moore and the aforementioned Patricia Arquette have all spoken for the cause, and the attention it gained got the #AskHerMore hashtag trending all over social media. This can be translated into many other industries outside Hollywood, as women ask for deeper trust in their opinions and more weight given to their answers at work. Read more in The Independent.
Emma Watson and the #HeForShe Campaign
Actress and model Emma Watson was recently named as the Ambassador for Women for the United Nations and as such delivered a rousing speech to heads of the organisation about her experiences as a woman fighting for feminism. She made a point of stating that feminism had become a dirty word that people are afraid to support, but it does not apply just to women. She called for more understanding from men and women who wish to be seen as more than the stereotype that has become known in recent decades. Oscar-nominated actor Steve Carell has shown his support by wearing the #HeForShe cufflinks on the red carpet, find out more here.
It may be surprising to people that there is still a gender equality gap in the workplace, as well as other walks of life. In spite of how far women have come in terms of gaining respect for their opinions at work, there appears to be some way to go. Male-dominated industries such as IT and engineering have come under fire for not allowing female employees to rise to positions of more control and power. Even in the Fortune 500, there are a surprisingly low number of female CEOs, something these campaigns are calling to change.
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