Who: Hackergal, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young girls and gender-diverse learners explore the possibilities in code across Canada, with Fuse Create for creative and strategy.
What: “Raise Her Voice,” a satirical poster campaign that draws attention to the lack of recognition for women working in tech. The target is educators and young girls.
What: “Raise Her Voice,” a satirical poster campaign that draws attention to the lack of recognition for women working in tech. The target is educators and young girls.
When & Where: OOH ads are in market now around Toronto.
Why: Tech and STEM are big sectors that Canadians are increasingly interested in, but women are grossly underrepresented in these spaces said Fuse Create CD Linda Carte Women account for only 23% of people working in Canadian tech, up marginally from 20% in 1987. "There’s been very little change, so we really want to give women and girls a voice in this sector,” said Carte.
Fuse Create was looking to partner with organizations making headway in the industry, and discovered Hackergal. The two started talking about an awareness campaign last summer, culminating in "Raise Her Voice."
How: The three poster ads, each in the brand’s signature colours, feature a popular digital device (like Google Home, and Amazon Alexa) which have a woman as their default voice, with a headline asking why these are the most famous female voices in tech.
"It became pretty obvious that these are the women’s voices most prominent in tech, whereas actual women working in the profession continue to be underrepresented,” said Carte. "The posters tote phrases like “Name a woman in tech, robots don’t count,” and “When we said we wanted more women in tech, we didn’t mean in the tech."
"It became pretty obvious that these are the women’s voices most prominent in tech, whereas actual women working in the profession continue to be underrepresented.” The posters tote phrases like “Name a woman in tech, robots don’t count,” and “When we said we wanted more women in tech, we didn’t mean in the tech.”
“We put a lot of thought into striking the right tone for the work,” said Carte, “because we didn't want to just put this observation out there and walk away, we wanted people to learn more about it.” A QR code at the bottom of each poster redirects to Hackergal.org with the line “Donate to Hackergal and help us inspire girls to code a better future.”
