THE CHALLENGE

Society is becoming more equal, but progress is slow with a new prediction of closing the gender gap increasing by 36.1 years in the last year.

In France, gender inequality is having devastating outcomes. The wage gap is 39%, every three days a woman dies at the hands of her husband, and inequalities in healthcare access mean women are experiencing disproportionately bad outcomes.

Despite the serious consequences, gender inequality isn’t considered important enough for systemic reform. We worked with FDF to change the conversation enough to incite a response.

THE STRATEGY

The brief was focused on mobilizing the electorate to show their support for a petition with 10 demands to advance gender equality: the Emergency Plan. The public-facing campaign put pressure on the presidential candidates to endorse the Emergency Plan in their presidential pledge.

To get the candidates’ attention, we created “The Cost of Inequality,” the first invoice on the financial impact of gender inequality with an annual cost and detailed breakdown of the cost of domestic violence, health discrimination and workplace inequality.

Offering a tangible calculation was more attention grabbing than asking for a conversation.

THE EXECUTION

To reach candidates, their representatives, and the general public, the invoice was mailed to all the candidates and printed in national newspapers with the option to cut them out, sign and mail in a pre-addressed envelope. Additionally, meetings were held with each candidate’s staff to elevate the importance of the Emergency Plan and seek endorsement.

The campaign launched on the eve of International Women’s Day and was amplified with an emotive film, TV, print, radio, and social & influencer outreach that ran until the first round of the presidential election on April 10.

Online, people could share the invoice and tag their candidate to hold them accountable for the invoice. For the first time, people could invoice their government for change.

THE OUTCOME

• 25,000+ people signed the petition
• 4 candidates committed to the Emergency Plan and 3 more took up partial measures
• President Emmanuel Macron invited FDF in for a meeting
• +2400% in website traffic
• The day after the campaign launched, search for “gender inequality” climbed 66%