Our Managing Partner, León Fernando del Canto, published an opinion piece in the Spanish journal Cinco Días on gender perspective and business management. Its translation into English is the following:
“Gender perspective and business management”
“The inclusion of gender perspective in companies is a crucial issue for the improvement of business results according to the consultancy firm McKinsey in its Women Matter page” The business and economic case for gender diversity “.
Gender equality should no longer be considered as a mere ornamental element in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and begin to be part of the items in the balance sheets and profit and loss account of our companies.
McKinsey estimates that commitment to gender equality in business could add up to $ 12 billion to global GDP by 2025. Along these lines, Monique Morow, CISCO’s board, is keenly affirming that policies that promote women’s equality In the work “would produce more than 8 trillion profits” worldwide, about five times the Spanish GDP. McKinsey points out that 75% of CEOs in the United States consider it a priority to incorporate the Gender Perspective into their business strategy. Taking into account, that women concentrate 80% of the purchase decision, this perspective begins to motivate the Advertising and Marketing Agencies with what is already known as #Femvertising.
Incorporating gender perspective is, therefore, to adopt a perspective that, from the equality of rights between women and men, allows to respond to the main social, political and cultural problems. It is also a paradigm from which to improve business management and, above all, has to be the backbone of communication strategy for any company, medium or institution.
But what do we base ourselves on to consider the impact of the gender perspective on the company?
In the first place, it should not be forgotten that gender equality is fundamentally a Human Right, and its achievement a desirable goal in any democratic society. Hence, from reducing the gender gap in business cadres to the equal and dignified treatment of the image of women in the media results in immediate tangible benefits.
Secondly, from a purely commercial point of view, 52% of women would or would not buy a product depending on how women are treated in their ads, according to a study by SheKnowsMedia.com. Some concrete examples of this strategy are offered by the following companies:
- Dove, the companyIncorporating the gender perspective is, therefore, to take a look that, from the equality of rights between women and men, allows to respond to the main social, political and cultural problems. It is also a paradigm from which to improve business management and, above all, has to be the backbone of the communication strategy of any company, medium or institution.
But what do we base ourselves on to consider the impact of the gender perspective on the company? - Audi has also made several advertising campaigns with a gender perspective, highlighting its last announcement issued in the Superbowl final, in which a girl competes in a car race against other children. It obtained more than 5 million reproductions in Youtube.
- Barbie, with her announcement of dolls playing different professions (as a doctor or firefighter) reached four million views on Youtube.
- Disney has reviewed the roles of their fairy princesses. The film Vaiana, starring a rather feminist princess, became one of the company’s most successful titles with a global collection of 147 million euros in its first month of screening in cinemas.
- With its #LikeAlady campaign, H&M in the textile sector has contributed to a 6% increase in its worldwide sales in 2016 with a profit of 22,851 million euros.
- Zara, with its line of neutral clothing and its unisex collection “Ungendered” had a growth of 15.4% in 2016.
Thirdly, it is a matter of brand positioning in what is already an unstoppable trend. Thus, Barclays, Vodafone, Twitter or Mckinsey herself have already joined this trend, becoming ambassadors for the campaign He For She, under the umbrella of UN Women, to which have been added in our country ESADE and the Town Councils of Málaga and Madrid among many other institutions.
Fourth, and not extending too much, we must consider that the success of any communication campaign depends on the impact on Social Networks, as pointed out in the study prepared by the IAB, which shows that in 2016, in Spain, not only are the Women who mostly use social media, but, above all, who share 63% more content than men.
Thus, fundamental policies to achieve the empowerment and equality of women, are no longer used as a mere aesthetic cliché to become an ethical action of Corporate Social Responsibility. But above all, as the data show, these are items that we expect very soon, are definitive in the income statement and the balance of our companies”.
León Fernando Del Canto is an international lawyer and analyst. Partner of the Communication and Gender Agency.
Version of the article published in Cinco Días.com, originally published in Spanish language.
