During the height of the presidential election in France, women’s rights organisation ‘Fondation des Femmes’ mobilised the nation to take action against gender inequality. Even after the #metoo movement, women are still not listened to. Which is why Fondation des Femmes, with the help of Edelman France, calculated how much gender inequality costs every single year and sent the bill to all the presidential candidates, holding them accountable for the 118 billion euro deficit and urging them to take concrete action. 

From awareness to action: Holding the candidates in the presidential election accountable 

‘The Cost of Inequality’ not only shines a light on the economic consequences of ignoring women, but actively engages the general public to take action and challenge those who have the power to enact change. The campaign encourages everyone to mail, send or share the invoice amounting to the total €118,650,000,000 to their presidential candidate to demand they enact the solutions outlined by Foundation des Femmes to overcome inequality.

The 360° campaign, running until the election ends on the 24th of April, reaches the public and politicians alike across all touchpoints:

• An emotive film introducing the cost, directed by Louise Ernandez and co-produced by Eddy.tv that will run online and on TV.
• A radio spot, recorded and mixed by Caleson, in which Julie Gayet – French actor, producer and ambassador of Fondation des Femmes, lends her voice.
• An out of home campaign featuring the four themes: workplace inequality, violence against women, institutional discrimination, and low consideration in the health sector.
• A print campaign, which doubles as the bill and can be filled in and sent directly to candidates.
• A social media and influencer campaign to further encourage action.

“This campaign is exactly what we needed to challenge the presidential candidates and the general public. In addition to the human toll, psychological and social consequences, inequality in France costs over 118 billion euros each year. This figure should alert us. It represents the price society pays to ignore women and live in inaction in France.” - Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of Fondation des Femmes.

“The cost of inequality is a figure that not only highlights for the first time the economic consequences of inequality against women, but calls on society and leaders to take action. Further inaction makes us all complicit - by choosing to ignore this cost, we are choosing to uphold the unjust inequality between women and men, that has very real financial and human consequences.” - Lauren Haberfield, executive creative director, Edelman France.

“We are proud to be at the side of the Fondation des Femmes to make visible, for the first time in France, the cost of gender inequality in a context of a presidential campaign that has yet to put the subject on the table. By changing the conversation and inspiring action through creativity we turn everyone's attention to the consequences of the inequality” - Anne-Cécile Thomann, co-CEO Edelman France.

Learn more about the €118 billion cost of inequality 

This figure was calculated by Lucile Peytavin, from the association ‘Genre et Statistiques’ who quantified the amount through the combination of several factors:

• Domestic violence: 3.6 billion. For each individual, a rape costs the victim 810,000 euros
• Toxic Masculinity: 89.3 billion
• Economic inequality: 22.15 billion. Individually, it is estimated that women in couples spend 25,169 euros more than their spouse.
• Health inequalities: 3.6 billion
• The cost of workplace inequality: 22.15 billion. 

On average, the cost of the wage gap represents a deficit of 5,420 euros per year for women.