Advertisers push inclusion cart on Women's Day but is it just tokenism?

Standard Chartered Bank ran an ad with a woman executive sitting across a glass table top with a ticker tape running at the bottom of the screen. “We’ll have women in at least 30 per cent of our senior roles by 2020,” it said. Ecommerce major, Flipkart, has a campaign called #RaiseHerToLead that pushes the idea of daughters inheriting the family business and Uber’s #WithinHerReach, talks about safety for women. In addition, numerous brands have launched short films, memes, posters and television campaigns, extolling the strength, commitment and courage that women show in the course of their lives.
 
Women’s Day (March 8) saw brands across categories put their best gender-aware or ‘woke’ message forward. But in the clutter, the message is getting diluted, especially since brands are all speaking in the same voice and tone. Much of it is not much more than tokenism, said Sandeep Goyal, brand expert and founder of Mogae Media. While brands cannot ignore the day, the challenge increasingly is how do they drive meaningful communication?
 
A Flipkart spokesperson said that its campaign is based on a survey they carried out to understand what stereotypes women battle today. They found that women are rarely groomed to take over their father’s businesses, because they are seen as incapable or, expected to get married. Their ad sought to dispel the notion.

Uber used the results from the 2011 census to design its ad. The survey said that three out of five women refrain from traveling beyond a kilometre for work, giving up higher-paying offers in favour of a shorter commute. Lucinda Barlow, senior director, Marketing APAC at Uber, said, “Many Indian women are ruling out career opportunities to stay closer to home, whether it's down to safety concerns or a lack of travel options. With this campaign, we want to move forward the conversation within communities and workplaces.”
 
Ranjani Krishnaswamy, general manager, Marketing, Jewellery Division, Titan Company said, “Tanishq has an inclusive, gender neutral environment. This is evidenced in the large number of women colleagues we have and an innate sense of equality which is all persuasive in the company culture. As in our advertising, so in our work lives, we are breaking bias and gender stereotypes to create vibrant energies at work.”

Flipkart raises the issue of a daughter inheriting her father’s business

Goyal said that the ads, while crafting a neat story, lacked an emotional connection. “Most of it is empty lip service or invented causes,” he said. Why, for instance do so few brands talk about poor participation of women in the workforce or unequal workplaces?
 
According to an Accenture report, “Getting to Equal 2020: The Hidden Value of Culture Makers,” which covers several industries across 28 countries including India, organisations today are at an inflection point. “Today’s workforce cares increasingly about workplace culture and believes it is critical to helping them thrive in the workplace (88 per cent of women and 77 per cent of men in India), and majority of leaders (91 per cent in India) believe an inclusive workplace culture is vital to the success of their business,” the report noted.

Uber talks about letting girls travel long distances for work

At the same time, there is a perception gap: nearly all leaders in India (94 per cent) believe their people feel included, yet just one third (36 per cent) of employees agree. No brand, except for a pledge by Standard Chartered Bank to do better by its women leaders, puts its advertising might behind the issue. Doing that may just get them heard over the clamour.