• by Larissa Faw , June 21, 2018

The ANA's SeeHer movement, designed to advance gender equality in advertising, media, and marketing announced at Cannes today, is developing the #WriteHerRight movement to increase the number of female voices in the TV writers' room. 

Separately at the Lions Festival, Mindshare announced it is aligning with Vice's female digital vertical Voice and Wasserman Media as part of the next phase of the agency’s ProjectYouDoYou. The GroupM agency launched the initiative late last year, to inspire and empower the next generation of female leaders. 

Commenting on the latest SeeHer effort, Stephen Quinn, chair, ANA SeeHer and former CMO at Walmart and PepsiCo, said: “We are not looking to control creativity or solicit story ideas.We believe that by inviting storytellers to join our movement, we are that much closer to the day when all the images that women and girls see in the media not only mirror the real world but reflect a society they want to live in—and that is good business.”

As part of the #WriteHerRight outreach, SeeHer has produced a tip sheet for storytellers, which provides quick stats on media representation and a list of ten questions designed to raise awareness and mitigate unconscious bias in media portrayals of female characters.

Additionally, an interactive #WriteHerRight blog will debut on SeeHer.com in the coming months that is designed to serve as a forum for writers to share tips on how to write about women and girls accurately.

ProjectYouDoYou is launching a new program, entitled Athletes & Activism that will profile the activist passions of female athletes off the playing field. One episode will highlight U.S. Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first female Olympian to wear a hijab, who has launched a clothing line.  

After each episode, there will be a national contest where a teen girl interested in the same area of activism will get to spend time with the athlete to talk about their shared passion.