2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

UAE has a vision to be among the world's top 25 countries for gender equality. Womanity is committed to its realization. Inspiring women to rise in academic pursuits, aiming to create awareness around the gender gaps that need attention, this initiative saved the equality conversation from getting stereotyped. Womanity decided to give 6 female scientists their much deserved, yet long overdue opportunity to give their laureate speech, that was never written or delivered when it was due. Brought to life through a mix of owned and earned media, the content delivered a transformational experience to viewers who engaged with it.

Background

Fighting for gender equality in the world’s most unequal region. Womanity’s mission is to accelerate gender equality through innovative investments - a promise to improve people’s lives through equal opportunity. With an action oriented approach, womanity champions equality and inclusion around the world, with many initiatives that present measurable impact. According to World Economic Forum’s Gender Equality Index 2021, MENA remains the region with the biggest gender gap (60.9%), which at the current relative pace, can potentially be closed in 142.4 years. Women make up only 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and men vastly outnumber women majoring in most STEM fields in college. The gender gaps are particularly high in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs of the future, like computer science and engineering. The objective here was to raise awareness on major gender gaps with a focus on scientific fields.

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

Raising awareness and consciousness around significant social challenges requires persistent engagement with all layers of society and true commitment, so that outcomes are owned by everyone and lead to a better world for all. And Womanity’s pledge to gender equality is evident through its initiatives and achievements. ● 35000 girl students have benefitted from their education program in Afghanistan ● The first radio station for and by women in the middle east ● Womanity’s Awards for organizations fighting against women ● Women change makers program in Brazil and India The problem is gender equality has also become the go-to CSR initiative in almost every industry. Hence, Womanity has to make a significant effort, in order to keep the gender equality conversation focused on fundamentals, and save it from getting stereotyped.

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

Our research and awareness around the subject keep analyzing the global and regional constructs of Gender Equality initiatives. The body of data took us closer to identifying the key barriers to progress on Gender Equality in MENA. One of the most important barriers turned out to be how a measurable demographic variable like Gender Equality is often clouded by the term women empowerment. Where both concepts may support each other, the latter often leads to a so-called battle of sexes. This takes the focus away from the measurable gender gaps that need to be closed, in order to achieve the bigger goal of equality. And progress on the Global Index for Gender Equality would be measured against key variables. One of the key metrics for measuring gender gaps is education and how far are women acknowledged for their academic achievements. We decided to showcase the most recognizable gap of all.

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

Our idea focused on the highest recognition any academic could ever receive: the Nobel Prize. There are 6 female scientists who deserved to win a Nobel Prize for their significant work but were unjustly written out of history. Recognition withheld is recognition denied. Highlighting this gap in a creative way, would make the case for closing the gap stronger, and encourage practices that are effective at making an impact. Womanity decided to give these 6 female scientists their much deserved, yet long overdue opportunity to give their laureate speech, that was never written or delivered when it was due. Using real quotes collected from an extensive research of press articles and academic work; and analysis of previous Nobel Prize ceremonies, we created their “Nobel Speeches” - inspiring women to rise in their chosen academic pursuits, while augmenting the value of Womanity’s initiatives on education for girls.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

2021 is a year when none of the Nobel Prizes in Science went to women, widening the gender gap. Fewer than three percent of Nobel science winners are women, and only one woman of color has ever received the award. Our campaign spread like wildfire. Many publications from the region as well as the global press covered this topic with over 1,600,000 $ of earned media coverage though the campaign has recently launched. For Womanity, the media coverage helps to put the public’s focus on this problem and to drive change. Even better, talking about historical women that were deserving of winning the Nobel inspired young girls to also make a difference by pursuing a scientific career. The comments from girls who had been exposed to the campaign on our social channels were overwhelmingly positive showing it can take little to inspire them to join the field of science.