How Pantene Is Taking Gender Bias Out of Search

Society has taught search engines to become biased.

A search for ‘greatest painters’ or ‘greatest engineers’ reveals a long list of men. Results for words like ‘school girl’ are heavily sexualised. And even search results for ‘great hair’ are biased. 

That’s why Pantene is launching S.H.E., Search Human Equalizer, created by Grey West. It is a browser extension that operates on the backend of search engines, transforming the way we search by removing the bias. 

Ilaria Resta, vice president of hair care for North America at Procter & Gamble, said: “As a leading brand for women, we see the accomplishments and transformations women achieve daily, but the reality is in some ways female-led transformations are not visible. In fact, some of the most accomplished women aren’t even visible in something we do over 3.5 billion times per day: Search. That’s exactly why we created S.H.E.”

Print ads about S.H.E., including a wraparound of USA Today, premiered this week. A new Pantene 'Power to Transform' campaign breaks in July and will spotlight women and the ways they are changing the world on a daily basis.

Pantene also announced a $1 million partnership with the Wing to help fund female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses through a pitch investment competition. To learn more about S.H.E. visit shetransforms.us and download the chrome extension.