Purplewashing is to feminism what greenwashing is to ecology: “The practice of presenting something as feminist, particularly a political action, in order to soften or downplay aspects of its reputation considered negative or as a justification for economic, political, xenophobic or racist goals.” (Wiktionary, 2019)
In the wake of this year's International Women’s Day ("IWD"), we would like to discuss the concept of purple washing and its impact on marketing campaigns. International Women’s Day was not just created to celebrate women but more importantly to fight for women’s rights. The 8th of March was chosen to mark International Women's Day in honor of the day that female textile workers went on strike for “bread and peace” in Russia in 1917.
However, many brands will try to monetize this day (by for instance launching IWD products and discounts or handing out free merchandise to women on the 8th of March, often as a marketing ploy). As usual, fast fashion companies are the first to surf on the wave of Women’s day to distract customers from their exploitative practices. As an example, in honor of IWD, Pretty Little Things sold t-shirts with feminist slogans such as “girl supporting girls” and “empowered”, the proceeds of which were donated to Girls Inc (an NGO fighting for women’s rights). However, these t-shirts were sold for the modest sum of £10, largely as a result of PLT’s controversial labor practices: Pretty Little Things is facing accusations that it is paying its garment workers in the UK below minimum wage, and subjecting them to poor working conditions. Women make up the majority of garment workers.
What is the right way to empower women on International Women’s Day as a company?
While it is commendable to highlight and initiate discussions about the struggles women face, it is more impactful still to adopt policies that seek to meaningfully support gender equality and the growth and empowerment of women all year round (not just on 8th March).
Businesses need to implement initiatives on the issues impacting women in their institutions. This could include ensuring gender balance among the company board members or establishing robust maternity and paternity policies.
Furthermore, companies need to make sure that their commitment to gender equality and to women’s rights is not just for one day and has a long-term impact. Do not just let your female employees speak up on International Women’s Day, but rather give them a proper platform from which to voice gender equality issues within your company every day. One action that could seem like a great initiative for gender equality, but instead only achieves a very short-term impact, is gender-based hiring quotas. For example, the finance industry has been crowded with men for decades, and to fix that most banks decided to implement quotas to encourage the hiring of more women. Despite such policies, there are still very few women as part of the top executives of investment banks and gender parity is far from being reached. The quota approach fails to take into consideration the longer-term effects (or indeed lack thereof) of such policies: yes, you hired as many male and female graduates, but what about further down the line? According to McKinsey's "Women in the Workplace 2019" study, in the banking and consumer finance industry, women are at parity (50%) for entry-level positions, but a gender imbalance gradually appears further up the chain of hierarchy, with women representing just 42% of managers and 27% of senior vice presidents. One real struggle that blocks women from getting promoted is superiors’ fear of a maternity leave that could come at any time during a woman’s career. Addressing this issue would genuinely help to improve durable gender equality in the finance world. In the meantime, hiring quotas for women can even have an unwanted negative effect: the standards to hire women can get so low that candidates may end up hiring for posts that they are not suited or qualified for. This, in turn, hurts women in the finance industry at large, as competent women end up not being trusted.
Businesses have a crucial role to play in the feminism movement: they have the ability to bring about true gender parity and to empower women in the workplace. Credibility is earned over a period of time, not by a one-off post - women’s rights are not just about day colored purple in the calendar.
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