Striving for more diverse and inclusive marketing leadership, The Marketing Society has announced its new Gender Equality Acceleration program during an interactive event on June 16, 2022.

The program sets out to accelerate gender equality at mid and high levels of management in the marketing & communication industry across the UAE.

In line with the current business (and social) landscape, the program seeks to bridge the gap between men and women, emphasizing the importance of including and encouraging men in the conversation, and working together to drive more awareness, visibility, and opportunities for women in the industry.

The objective is to better equip women to take on senior leadership roles with brands, agencies, and media owners in the UAE and the wider region. A key focus of the project is to put words and ideas into action and break the cycle of just talking about gender equality without any execution. This will be achieved through training, events, mentoring, policy changes, and other actions in order to impact real change and support aspiring female leaders, including:

• Working closely with different conference producers and event organizers to support them in having equal panels – by creating an accessible speaker directory that shines a light on females in the industry. The goal is to reach a 50/50 split on panels across the marketing and comms industry by 2023.
• Organize and host identified training and masterclasses with over 50 women by December 2022
• Sharing best practices to inspire and empower businesses of all sizes to echo the initiative.

Leanne Foy, Founder of Leanne Foy & Co and Project Director, said in a statement, “The initiative aims to bring both men and women from the industry together and empower women to break both internal and external boundaries that stand in their way. The mission is to lift women by focusing on building professional relationships, equal visibility opportunities, and professional growth through training to continue honing in on skills.”

Abby Lyons, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of House of Comms, said, “There are many external barriers that stand in the way of women moving into leadership, some harder to impact than others. But perhaps the biggest, and most crucial barrier to tackle first which is often overlooked, is the one that we place on ourselves. Often letting lack of confidence and self-doubt leads us to feel like imposters.”

Lyons continued, “This initiative not only better educates both genders on how to find their voice to ensure there are equal opportunities at senior levels in all organizations but, more importantly, provides an essential support network to build the self-belief of many women, giving them the strength to truly believe they deserve the recognition of a leadership role. It all begins within.”

Mohammed Ismaeel Hameedaldin, Partner Toughlove Advisors & Chair of The Marketing Society Dubai, said, “Marketers are changemakers within businesses – who can make an impact and make a difference. We’re thrilled to be launching this initiative for the industry to inspire people to make a change and help to accelerate gender equality in the UAE and across the region. The time for talk is over, it’s about action and we look forward to supporting this through our planned activities and engaging the whole industry to speed up change.”

Senior marketers were welcomed at the launch event and discussed what’s in store for this defining initiative and The Marketing Society’s goal to develop and include exceptional talent to further the conversation around gender equality in the region. The Marketing Society encourages all businesses, whether big or small to get involved and come together to take action within the industry. The Society is looking for more partners to help support this initiative, working alongside the founding partner TikTok that has helped make this possible.

For more information on the program and how to get involved, please visit the Society’s website.