Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Each of these tongue-in-cheek, how-to style films open with text heavy graphics, highlighting the seemingly complex issues surrounding gender equality in the workplace - which to some can seem like a minefield of political correctness. The film then cuts abruptly to an extremely short, live-action scene (1-3 seconds) which demonstrates the solution is actually rather simple. Usually just removing gender from the equation.

Cultural/Context information for the jury

There’s a strange double standard in this country. We’ve got a progressive, female Prime Minister - who even became pregnant while in office - but of the businesses that make up New Zealand’s stock market index, only two have female CEOs, and only one has a board of directors made up equally of men and women. This same imbalance is painfully reflected at senior leadership and management levels across the country. The fact that our Prime Minister was asked during her electoral campaign about her baby plans on national news by male interviewers, shows there is a deep-rooted unconscious bias around gender roles. Champions for Change is an organisation formed by the leading Chairs and CEOs of New Zealand’s 50 largest and most influential businesses, committed to correcting gender imbalance, and advancing diversity across all industry and sectors. They are not a charity, but rather a joint CSR initiative.

Please tell us about the social behaviour and/or cultural insights that inspired your campaign

Despite the outward support most people have towards gender equality, at senior management and leadership levels there is a distinct lack of representation. Most of us are still holding onto traditional perceptions of gender roles. Yet, studies show that companies that have a balanced representation of women in senior leadership experience higher revenue, increased growth and generally outperform in their market. Champions for Change wanted to create a campaign to empower and enable people from all levels of business to not only start a conversation around gender equality, but encourage engagement and participation too. To get people to consider their own decision-making and judgement processes – not just within the Champion businesses, but wider New Zealand, and even the world. By eliminating unconscious bias and simply removing gender from the equation, companies can concentrate on identifying the most competent candidates for the role based on merit.