Enabling Gender Equality through Marketing

A shorter form of this piece first appeared in Campaign’s observation of International Women’s Day in 2024. Campaign is a global business magazine covering advertising, media, marketing and commercial creativity.

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My personal journey of transitioning from female to male has granted me insights into the shifting perceptions that accompany a change in gender identity. I have encountered episodes of male privilege — on multiple occasions, people assumed I was competent in certain areas, and I had to remind them that they had just made an assumption based on unrelated expertise. Drawing attention to such bias has enhanced our team's decision-making process. These experiences, while enlightening, are not the foundation of my advocacy for gender equality.

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We have heard it so often it’s become numbing – 286 more years for gender equality, according to the UN Women's 2023 report; or 132 more years to close the gender pay gap, per the World Economic Forum. As a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) practitioner and a transgender advocate, I am reminded daily of other marginalised communities who are even further from reaching equality. Yet, competing over the magnitude of our problems gets us nowhere. Progress lies in a unified effort towards the equality of all, starting with equal access to safety, healthcare, education and decent work. The reason why I am a male ally stems from a simple truth: it is the right thing to do in a world where men still hold disproportionate power.

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In the marketing industry, we play a significant role in establishing and perpetuating standards of beauty. This power manifests in our choices - from casting decisions, to celebrity and influencer selection, or even the “good” angles highlighted by photographers or makeup artists. Despite advances in representation across ethnicity, skin types, sizes, age and gender expression in recent years, when such inclusivity isn’t ingrained as standard practice, it falls short of impacting inequalities. Brands like Fenty, Dove and Mac Cosmetics remain the exception, not the norm.

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We must confront the promotion of unattainable beauty ideals and scrutinise products that target perceived imperfections. The stark contrast between the grooming expectations for men and women only widens the gender equality gap. While men can effortlessly meet societal standards, women, especially post childbirth, face unrealistic expectations to maintain a pre-motherhood physique. Why should we not celebrate the natural beauty of motherhood? Consider also women introduced to beauty products late in life, bearing facial pockmarks – are invasive cosmetic treatments their only avenue to beauty? Or women with ageing pigmented spots – do they really need lightening cream or laser treatment to feel beautiful? How do whitening products perpetuate social discrimination in darker-skinned communities? While we might not directly steer the R&D pipeline, we can initiate critical conversations and challenge existing paradigms.

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Well-meaning ads featuring trans women perpetuate cisnormative standards of beauty – the ad seemed to have achieved its goal when audiences comment on how beautiful the trans woman is, and how you can’t tell that she was assigned male at birth. This suggests that the “ideal” trans woman is indistinguishable from a cisgender woman, which requires multiple surgeries that remain inaccessibly expensive for most trans women. While the industry has shifted away from the exclusive use of size zero models and erasing signs of ageing, truly authentic representation remains elusive.

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When beauty that is marketed fails to mirror the natural, healthy existence of all forms, it can create a desire for self-harm when you don’t see your authentic self being affirmed. A trans woman may undergo multiple surgeries such as facial hair removal, tracheal shave, bottom surgeries and facial feminisation - which includes cheek augmentation, rhinoplasty brow-lifting, lip-lifting, breast augmentation, before they achieve societal recognition of being “passable” as a woman. In societies where trans women find more social acceptance, many are comfortable with using the voice they were born with, rather than pitching their voices to fit into society’s expectations of femininity.

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Much of what we like or know is conditioned by our upbringing. A child raised amidst a celebration of diverse expressions of womanhood is less likely to internalise toxic beauty standards. This spectrum encompasses all female gender identities and expressions - cis, trans, gender-fluid, non-binary, intersex, agender, bigender, genderqueer – and those still evolving. Our industry has the skills to undertake the work of dismantling harmful ideologies seriously, creatively and positively.

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Consider these actions -

· ? Conduct Sensitivity Training – Equip your teams with cultural sensitivity, inclusivity, and the psychology of beauty standards. Understanding how we impact societal beauty norms is crucial.

· ? Redefine Beauty Icons – depict famous icons stripped of superficial allure, highlighting their humanity.

· ? Establish New Beauty Paradigms – Celebrate diverse aesthetics and unconventional beauty with the individuals we feature. Support designers, models and artists who challenge conventional beauty norms.

· ? Rectify Biases – Create campaigns that increase awareness of and uproot beauty bias.

· ? Expand Dialogue - Create spaces for dialogue and support where individuals can support each other in challenging traditional norms. Educate consumers on beauty as a social construct, and encourage critical media literacy.

· ? Narrate Authenticity - Embrace storytelling that reflects the myriad experiences of beauty across cultures and communities. Highlight sidelined voices.

· ? Assess Social Impact – Measure and track the impact of your progress on fostering diverse beauty standards.

· ? Form a Coalition – Start an industry-wide movement and commitment towards diverse beauty as an industry standard.

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The beauty industry, reliant on insecurities and unrealistic standards, may balk at democratising standards of beauty. After all, what will we sell aside from our anti-wrinkle, anti-ageing, anti-natural elixirs? But as we delve into consumer research, we will find a trove of unmet needs. By choosing not to translate these insights into campaigns and products that accentuate inequitable desires, we pave the way for products that honour intrinsic and equitable beauty. How about the recent trend of eye decorations? That expresses individual creativity. Anyone up for darkening cream for solidarity?

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My mum is now in her mid-70s, but she remains in her forties in my mind’s eye. I don’t believe she needs make-up to be beautiful, even though she insists on spending an hour getting ready before leaving her home. She has lost her youthful body with the birth of two kids and spending much time as a homemaker. I am grateful to experience her love every weekend. This nearly universal sentiment of loving our mothers, sisters, daughters and friends as they are could perhaps inspire our industry to a higher calling in gender equality: a vision of enabling our audience to see a stranger as their own – or in other words, to recognise kinship in every human being.

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Rain Khoo has worked in design, branding and eCommerce for two decades and was the youngest design director at Procter & Gamble Asia at one point. He now runs his own consultancy, Dignité Brands. For conversations on equity and inclusion in marketing, email [email protected].

Footnotes: The image uses generative AI with the prompt "create a beautiful image in a style of advertising photography, that captures equitable female beauty, that is especially equitable for underrepresented identities" which highlights further inequalities in beauty perpetuated by AI.