‘We Are Not a Stereotype’: Creative Women Take a Stand on Gender Pay Gap Pandemic on IWD

This International Women’s Day, women in the creative industry are taking stock and making a stand about the unequal impact of the the Covid-19 pandemic. A series of lockdowns and school closures have exposed systemic sexism. Working mothers are 47% more likely to lose their jobs during the pandemic, and are alsp more likely to be furloughed and their hours have been cut back 50% more. Women currently in their 30s will likely never know pay equality in their working lives.

In response, Rebecca Rowntree, the driving force behind the hugely popular Top 5 iTunes career podcast, ‘This Way Up’, has launched a manifesto film ‘We Are Not a Stereotype’. The campaign has launched on International Women’s Day – which also just a couple of weeks short of the anniversary of the first British Covid lockdown. The film highlights the Gender Pay Gap as another pandemic that requires urgent attention. 

The film features 38 prominent women from the design and creative industries who want to use their platforms to fight for working women.

Rebecca says she was inspired to create the campaign having interviewed many women about the challenges they’ve faced this year. “Listening to my podcast guests and the women at events I was running throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, it was clear how extremely tough this year has been on women. As a ‘lockdown baby’ mum myself, contemplating going back to work and my daughter’s future, I couldn’t sit idly by. I wrote this manifesto to create a new conversation around the gender pay gap, to dismantle damaging stereotypes and make womens’ careers more visible in the public eye. This is only the beginning and I hope to empower many women in the year to come by giving them a platform to share their stories through This Way Up”.

Laura Jordan Bambach - President &  Chief Creative Officer at Grey London and Co-Founder of SheSays – says that the backslide on progress made in years past was an important motivating factor for getting involved.

“COVID has hit men and women unequally in the workplace, and the growth of opportunities and equality that once seemed unstoppable has gone backwards, fast. That’s why I was proud to lend my voice to this brilliant campaign,” says says.

Vicki Maguire, CCO at Havas London, says that she has a deep sense of frustration. Covid hasn’t created inequalities out of thin air, it has exposed the industry’s failures to make meaningful change despite years of lip service.

“To quote a banner that’s been kicking around women’s marches since the early ‘60s, ‘I can’t believe we’re still protesting this shit’,” she says. “We’ve all seen what this pandemic has done to lives, families, and economies.. This film highlights what it is doing to equality and careers.   Every woman on this film, in your agencies, studios and beyond is saying let’s stop playing lip service and start to sort out our own industry.”

Caitlin Ryan, Director EMEA of Facebook Creative Shop, says that while the pandemic has had a toxic impact on women’s careers, the experience of working from home has also presented a potential solution. “My hope for the industry is that kindness is seen, not as a weakness, but a corporate strength,” she says.

The aim of the ‘We are Not a Stereotype’ film is to create greater awareness of the unique challenges women experience, as well as highlight the impact of gender inequality in the workplace and drive this subject back on the agenda. Other women are also being encouraged to share their own story of how they have experienced discrimination in the workplace, using a specially designed Instagram filter that replicates the look of the film. Rebecca hopes that these stories can provide comfort to women at all stages of their careers, showing that not only have others faced the same challenges, they have come through them. 

Furthermore, Rebecca is pledging to feature 100 leading creative women on her This Way Up podcast and via its Instagram Stories before IWD 2022. Women are invited to get involved by visiting @thiswayuppodcast on Instagram.

Debbie Millman - American writer, educator, artist, curator, and designer who is best known as the host of the podcast Design Matters

Pip Jamieson - CEO & Founder of the Dots

Vicki Maguire - Chief creative Officer Havas

Caitlin Ryan - Director EMEA Facebook creative shop

Nishma Robb - Marketing Director at Google

Laura Jordan Bambach -President & Chief Creative Officer at Grey London, Co-Founder of SheSays

Sereena Abbassi - Inclusion and diversity consultant

Jade Tomlin - Group Creative Director AKQA

Mylene Sylvestre - Publishing Director at Guardian News & Media and co-Founder of the Women of Colour Global Network

Victoria Brooks - Strategy Consultant | Strategic Advisor & Trustee @Bloom UK

Nana Bempah - Founder of Pocc (@wearepocc) | Executive Producer

Shannie Mears - Co‑Founder & Head of Talent The Elephant Room

Nicola Kemp - Editorial Director for Creative brief

Victoria Buchanan – Executive Creative Director tribal DDB

Carina White - Co-Founder Black Mums Upfront, Senior Influencer Talent Manager at RAPP

Rebecca Rowntree - Creative Director and founder of This Way Up

Emma Gardner - Co-Founder at Born Equal Consults | Accessibility Advisor

Lizi Hamer - Regional Creative Director Octagon

Kate Goodrum - Investor Relations Executive

Anna Urik - Photographer & Filmmaker

Cicely Ryder-Belson - Project Coordinator at Arts 4 Dementia

Dvora - Fashion Photographer

Pippa Bhatt - Founding Partner of MADAM & Coterie

Tasha Cronin - Head of Interactive Production at Droga5 New York

Joyce Kremer - Creative and president of Shesays organisation

Isobel Watkins - Editorial Assistant at DesignMyNight

Susannah Coe - Development Director

Alicia Cordell - Producer at This Way Up

Melissa Wong - Social creative / Social creative for Shesays

Nelta Kasparian - Creative Content Coordinator Mad Cow Films

Una Cottrell - Founder and MD at Authentic . Podcast Founder and Creator 45Not.Out

Rebecca Duncan - Graphic Designer

Carmen Stacey - Creative Director - StayCarm

Haseena Farid  - Co-Founder of the Women of Colour Global Network

Tea Uglow - Creative Director Google Australia |Transgender activist

Ilaria Guerra - Fashion and Print Designer

Zoe Moncaster - Freelance Graphic Designer (IG @zoebydesign)

Jennifer Hayashi  - Senior Graphic Designer, We Are Social