Nays
Nudity is not for new mothers.
In February 2020, ABC banned ‘Frida Mom’ postpartum advert from showing at the Oscars for being ‘too graphic with partial nudity’. The advert in question shows a new mum during her fourth trimester going to the bathroom after calming her crying baby. Frida Mom responded saying that the ad was ‘not violent, political or sexual in nature’.
In comparison to some adverts that depict guns, ammunition and frank nudity – we thought this was a great opportunity to normalise the reality of postnatal recovery.
Stay home. Get back in the kitchen.
The British government received significant backlash after releasing the outdated ‘Stay at Home’ advert, which shows a 1950’s style poster of women doing the bulk of household chores, childcare and home-schooling. For all that they’re outdated, and certainly within our company this split hasn’t been the norm, this still does show an unfortunate reflection on society, with more women shouldering the ‘caring’ duties during the pandemic. The result of this was women being twice as likely to require time off work with no pay to look after children while schools were closed.
Yays
Bodyform gets real
In July, Bodyform bought us ‘WombStories’, which struck out against the shame and silence over women’s natural cycles. Their major brand campaign, created by Nisha Ganatra, and her all-woman team, shows the parallel between women who want children and those that do not. Also featured are a character who has endometriosis, an older woman going through the menopause and a girl who gets her period for the first time. It spotlights the complex and unspoken truths about wombs, vulvas and periods.
More recently we saw Whitney Wolfe Herd become the youngest female self-made billionaire at age 31. She has completely altered the way women date and network after launching her app Bumble in 2014; which empowers women to make the first moves in both love and business. She made a ‘testament to new beginnings, new paradigms and new norms’ as she made her company public, with a baby on her hip.
It’s taking longer than we thought
While we are slowly moving in the right direction, people are still fighting for women’s voices to be heard. With the delay of the gender pay gap reporting regulations, domestic abuse on the rise, employment instability the ‘Covid gender gap’ has never felt more significant.
It takes all voices to be heard to make a change. So please join us and channel your inner Jacinda Arden, and shine a light on the women in leadership this International Women’s Day, and every day following this.
#ChooseToChallenge #IWD2021
