How brands can leverage international

woman's day to promote their brands

In recent years, brands have embraced International Women’s Day as a way to show their
alignment with female empowerment, but this year’s International Women’s Day, falling
within Women’s History Month, hits a little harder. Men and women remain on unequal
footing when it comes to equality, whether it’s at work, in the home or in society—and the
coronavirus pandemic has eroded much of the progress so far.

Women around the world have been disproportionately affected with job cuts, lack of access
to education and burdened with the bulk of childcare and domestic work, as well as facing
unprecedented levels of domestic violence. Nearly 20 million girls are in danger of not
returning to school, according to the Malala Fund, and women are 1.8 times more vulnerable
to lose their jobs, according to McKinsey data. In the U.S., women have lost more than 5.4
million jobs as many have been forced to remain at home with their children while schools
stayed closed. In the past year, December was one of the worst months for women; in total,
women lost 156,000 jobs while men gained 16,000. Women also form 70% of the world’s
health and social sector, tirelessly serving all those suffering from COVID-19. There’s no
doubt that women need all the encouragement and support they can get.
Perhaps, then, it’s no surprise that this year, the support from brands timed to Women’s

History Month—first deemed a month-long celebration by Congress in 1987—and

International Women’s Day, which has been around since the early 1900s, has multiplied,

with many of the efforts striving to highlight and amplify diverse women heroes in past and

recent history.

The issues women are facing at this unprecedented time are highlighted in campaigns from
Unilever, Pinterest and others. Meanwhile, Google and Netflix are not only sharing inspiring
films dedicated to women pioneers, but are backing up their creative with capital-backed
action.
Google :
For Women’s History Month, Google is out with not only a new women-
focused campaign for TV, digital and social, but has chosen International Women’s Day to
announce a fund dedicated to advancing the economic prosperity of women and girls around
the world, which its charitable arm Google.org is funding with $25 million.

Called the “Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls,” the program calls upon
nonprofits and social organizations to submit ideas for impactful initiatives that will be
judged on their impact, feasibility, innovation and scalability. Those selected can receive up
to $2 million and mentorship and additional support from Google. Organizations have until
April 9 to submit their ideas, and grant recipients will be announced later this year.

Netflix
To invest in the next generation of female storytellers, Netflix is giving $5
million to “programs that help identify, train and provide work placements for up-and-
coming women talent around the world,” Bela Bajaria, head of global TV at Netflix wrote in
a blog post announcing the news last week. The $5 million pledge is part of the streaming
platform’s new Netflix Fund for Creative Equity program, set up at the end of February to
discover and support inclusive storytellers with a goal of investing $20 million a year for the
next five years. Netflix will use the $5 million to launch initiatives like mentorship programs
in France and Germany and training programs for Latinx women and women in Canada.
“Experience has taught me that great stories are universal: they can come from anywhere, be
created by anyone, and be loved by everyone—what matters is that they are told
authentically,” writes Bajaria. “Now we need to ensure that traditionally disadvantaged
voices—in this case women—get the same chances to be heard in our industry as men have
been for generations.”

Unilever :
The United Nations has found that cases of domestic violence
have increased by 20% during the pandemic. In a new campaign timed to International
Women’s Day, Unilever is trying to help other companies put a pause to domestic violence
by releasing its own global policy around violence and abuse to any company that wants it,
hoping that it will help employers that might not have anything in place. The move is
accompanied with a powerful 30-second film called “Unmute” that showcases women trying
to speak out about domestic violence, but who are set on mute. Unilever is also hosting a
LinkedIn Live with #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke and Aline Santos, Unilever’s
executive VP, marketing and chief diversity and inclusion officer, on March 4.
“In a year where ‘unmute’ and ‘you’re on mute’ have become some of the most commonly
used phrases, Unmute’s purpose is to challenge the stigma and end the silence that surrounds
the hidden pandemic of domestic violence,” writes Unilever CEO Alan Jope on LinkedIn.

Reference : Wise stamp (2022) How brands celebrate international women’s day .
retrieved from , How brands are honoring International Women’s Day during a
pandemic that has been disproportionately harsh on women | Ad Age (accessed on
8/03/2022)