Early 2013, the issue of gender bias in the workplace made headlines in a big way as a result of Sheryl Sandberg’s global bestseller Lean In, which examined why women are still struggling to make progress and encourages women to overcome it.
Recently, Pantene caused a stir in the Philippines and around the world with an online video tackling gender labels. In a little more than a month, the video generated more than seven million views and thousands of comments around the globe. The 60-second film explores hidden gender double standards in the workplace – a theme inspired by the fact that there still exists a notion that women cannot be too assertive or strong-willed when it comes to getting what they want.
Pantene team ran a study in the Philippines, and was surprised to learn that 70% of men think that women need to downplay their personality to be accepted in the workplace.
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| Screen cap of a video where a strong-willed women was labelled "Bossy". |
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| Both gender doing the same thing but labelled differently. |
Author and COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg commented on her personal Facebook page: “This is one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen illustrating how when women and men do the same things, they are seen in completely different ways [it’s] really worth watching.
Forbes quoted the video for portraying gender labels effectively, "Lean In prize of the day for sure!”
While Time has lauded Pantene’s efforts to break down ever sexist workplace stereotype in one ad. Through pure organic growth and virality, the video has made waves in the United States, on programmes such as ABC World News Tonight and even Good Morning America.
“Pantene and P&G brands reach billions of women around the world and we want to use this scale and influence to be an agent of change. We are excited about Singapore’s upcoming #WhipIt campaign to help women embrace their strength and shine,” said Mathieu Sidokpohou, Marketing Director Hair Care South East Asia at Procter & Gamble.
Today, Pantene has earned 241,100,081 overall earned media impressions and 227,072,270 digitally.
Watch this Pantene video "Labels Against Women #ShineStrong Pantene"
My thoughts: Even as a woman myself, I'm also pretty bias when it comes to choosing the right boss at workplace. If you'll to ask me, I would say that I prefer to have a male boss than a female boss and if you ask me again, I would say that I prefer bosses who do their job well regardless if it's a man or a woman. I prefer male bosses probably because through years of work experience, I had been working mostly under male bosses and they often appear competent, show good leadership, talk less, listen more, show respect and most importantly, they do not bring their emotions into their work. We all know what happens when emotions kick in and we won't like the end results it give.
I do work under few female bosses before and I had totally no problem with that too, so long they deal with stuffs logically instead of inputting their emotions into matters. At the end of the day, it's a problem-solving great leader that everybody needs. Whether or not women are labelled as Bossy, Selfish or Vain, I think that as long as they have the components of a good leader, they are good bosses! ^_^
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