It’s International Women’s Day, a time to acknowledge the efforts and achievements of women in every organization, profession, local community and family. Today you’ll find a number of new articles on gender diversity and female leadership in marcomms throughout our e-bulletin and website.
While a day of recognition is important, we at Campaign decided to take a step further after a year where high-profile scandals involving gender discrimination have rocked the advertising world.
So starting today, we’ve launched a Diversity Hub to provide you with the latest viewpoints and news on gender issues as the industry builds a sustainable future of equal and fair workplaces.
We’ve also transformed one of our signature events to focus on the issue of gender diversity. On March 22 in Hong Kong, Campaign360 will not only bring together leaders across adland to discuss how to improve opportunities for women, but will see media firms set a mandate for real change in their organisations.
A new initiative, the Women Leading Change Awards will be held that same evening, honouring women leaders for industry innovation and business success. Watch out for our awards shortlist, coming next week.
A major stumbling block to change is the lack of benchmarks and research in this region. So together with TNS, Campaign has launched an industry-wide survey for release at Campaign360, which will reflect that many advertising professionals in Asia believe gender plays a role in missing opportunities for advancement. It will also reflect that a high proportion of respondents feel the gender gap has not narrowed at their organisations, where a lot more could be done to institutionalize equality.
Finally, we’ve devoted our upcoming March print issue to exploring the adland gender gap in Asia through the eyes of young women aspiring towards a marketing career, through a comparison with other industries and through glimpses of what creative campaigns could gain from greater female influence.
We hope that by amplifying this issue, Campaign can continue to lead, working with industry to bring about real change.
