A majority of Irish men now believe that society has gone so far in promoting women’s equality that they themselves now feel discriminated against. A report by Ipsos B&A and presented at IAPI’s Female Future Fund conference outlined what is driving quite polarised attitudes towards gender, and how Irish marketers need to address this in brand communications and strategy, Clare Kavanagh, director, Ipsos B&A, said.
Davina O’Donoghue, director, Ipsos B&A, shared insights from the company’s ethnography six-month study which unpicked a current movement that is shifting towards more ‘traditional’ views of gender, including aggressive forms of masculinity. She showed screened a short documentary and set out how we need to move on from harmful biases, such as silent strong men and average dads.
Struggle
“It’s evident,” Luke Reaper, chief executive, Ipsos B&A, said, “that despite improvements over time, Ireland remains a highly unequal society with women still more disadvantaged on many key indicators; earnings, political representation, and senior roles. Backlash and toxic masculinity point to a significant struggle on the ‘equality project’ where men, especially young men, feel they are being asked to do too much to support female equality.
“Men are increasingly nostalgic for the era of their parents and feel equal rights are having a disproportionate negative impact on them. The work took a look at the human impacts and experiences of current gender narratives, from both sides of the gender divide. It discovered and delved deeper into the narratives that keep us all stuck in an endless see-saw of struggle, to be heard, understood and supported.
“A communication challenge indeed. Representations of men and women need to move beyond outdated stereotypes and show, believable positive future roles in an increasingly equal society. It’s especially important to show advantages for men beyond the ‘noble/doing what is right’ principle, which is not compelling enough as a benefit. Having brand bravery will be crucial, but brands must be clever too in how they approach this to take account of the changing climate,” he added.
Context
IAPI’s recently-appointed CEO Siobhán Masterson set the context for gender parity within the industry presenting findings from the institute’s most recent census. She said that while women dominate adland’s entry-level workforce by almost 2:1, there is a dramatic decline within senior roles, with double the number of men versus women over the age of 45. “Today’s geopolitical context and the retreat from stakeholder capitalism presents a more challenging environment for industry to continue to champion initiatives designed to bring about gender balance, but it should also galvanise business further,” she added.
The Female Futures Fund programme is supported by Diageo.
