If you’re feeling inspired by the Supreme Court’s historic same-sex marriage decision, then do your part to help build and sustain forward momentum toward justice for all. Legalizing same-sex marriage is a huge victory, but it is not the finish line of justice. Inequality takes many forms, and people are still waiting on their ability to live freely, safely, or, just to live.
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Kat Gordon worked for 20 years as a Copywriter/Creative Director and saw firsthand how women were often left out of pitches and important meetings. She describes the “Ultimate Emperor’s New Clothes Moment” of her life as the day her agency pitched the Saab car account with 16 men and one woman and then was mystified why they didn’t get the business.
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There is another form of discrimination in this country where words and opinions are blatantly expressed, and most just ignore the issue: ageism. We are a youth oriented country that looks at aging as something to avoid at all costs. We have to face that our population is aging and the number of Americans over age 60 is growing. We need to examine our social attitudes and realize that we live in a society that stereotypes aging adults.
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Last summer, Procter & Gamble’s Always scored a big hit with its stereotype-crushing Like a Girl ad, which then got a slot on the Super Bowl. Now, the feminine products brand is back with another powerful commercial aimed at building the confidence of women. The new Leo Burnett ad, Unstoppable, is directed, like its predecessor, by documentarian Lauren Greenfield. And it features a diverse group of girls and young women talking about the limitations they’ve experienced as a result of social norms.
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We as a society have an implicit bias toward extroverts — those who talk the most get the most attention, even though there’s no link between how much we talk and the quality of our insights. And that means we too often dismiss introverts and their ideas — that is, we leave out at least a third of the population, by Susan’s estimate. And that’s costly to everybody, not just introverts.
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In a new initiative from the founder of Creative Social, Daniele Fiandaca, a series of prominent women from across the marketing industry interview male figures about their views on gender imbalance and diversity in the industry. In the second interview in the gender diversity series, Token Man, Emma Perkins, executive creative director at Lowe Open interviews Daren Rubins, chief executive PHD. Emma Perkins: Thanks Daren for agreeing to be a Token Man. We met at the 3% Conference in London but given how fraught the topic can be, why were you keen to do an interview for Token Man? Daren Rubins: Firstly when I heard you present at the 3% conference I thought it was a fantastic initiative. I’m also a firm believer in gender equality and the role women and feminine values have to play in the workplace. Its something that I’m actively pursuing as an area of interest. I’ve worked in a very male dominated industry for so long and its undergone a huge transition in the past few years and I personally think the media industry is a lot better off for it. So I’ve started to become quite interested in the dynamics of more senior women at the top of organizations and imbedded right throughout as well as the role […]
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The great whales are indicators species that have a lot to say about marine and coastal biodiversity, according to Lisa Bassett, author and professor at the University of Oregon School of Communication and Journalism. Today, seven out of 13 species of great whales are listed as endangered or vulnerable because of commercial whaling (despite an international moratorium); ship strikes; oil and gas exploration; military sonar vessels; pollution; disease, and climate change,” Bassett reminds us. As a professor of journalism, Bassett knew that by documenting an environmental problem, you can become part of the solution. This was the concept behind a four-week study abroad program offered by the University of Oregon (OU), entitled Nature & Culture: Multimedia Storytelling in Uruguay. This astonishing and exciting program focuses on the environment, traditional cultures, sustainability and conservation. The flagship program occurred in 2013, when Bassett led a group of UO students to Uruguay to create a multimedia project entitled The Route of the Whale. The project explored the route from its beginning in the hillside town of Piriapolis to the Brazilian border at Chuy. The students investigated environmental issues and solutions to those issues, in marine biology, conservation and sustainability. They did their work both in the classroom and in […]
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What if building codes actually required new projects to enhance a certain number of ecosystem services — such as sequestering carbon, building topsoil, enhancing pollination, increasing biodiversity or purifying water and air? Is it possible that a city could be functionally indistinguishable from the wild landscape around it? And what if companies ultimately built factories that truly enhanced ecosystem services? These were the big questions that biologist and biomimicry expert Janine Benyus posed during her keynote presentation at the recent International Living Future Institute’s 2015 unConference in Seattle.
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Those who made it back were shunned from their community—so Alice Achan built them a place to call home. Alice Achan may run one of the most successful girls’ schools in Uganda today, but that’s because she knows firsthand what a monumental challenge it is for a young girl in her country to get an education. Achan, 41, grew up in a small Acholi-tribe village during the widespread murders, rapes, and kidnappings wrought by the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerrilla group led by Joseph Kony, in the 1980s and 1990s. As a result of the massacres and violence, Achan, one of 27 children born to a polygamist father, had to leave almost a dozen different schools during her childhood and teenage years. If she had stayed in school, Achan risked being abducted by LRA rebels and forced to work in rebel camps as both free laborer and sex slave—the fate of so many girls. Yet Achan persevered by moving all over northern Uganda in pursuit of her high school degree. In 1996, she graduated at the age of 23. The struggle to develop her academic skills and earn her degree prepared Achan for her life’s mission: to create a […]
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A recent case of toxic shock syndrome, a bacterial infection that can be caused by the use of materials such as tampons, has reignited the debate over tampon use for women’s periods. Twenty-four-year-old model Lauren Wasser was living the high life of a young, up-and-coming Los Angeleno. This all came crashing down when she contracted toxic shock syndrome from wearing a tampon overnight and ultimately had to get one of her legs partially amputated.
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