#RewritingTheCode campaign spotlights discrimination against girls and women
Barriers to education, Girls' education, International Women's Day, Right to education, Sarah Brown, Technology and education, Theirworld
Theirworld launches its 2017 campaign today, ahead of International Women's Day, to expose the embedded values that discriminate against females in education, at work and in the wider world.
Every day, in countries across the world, girls and women are held back and prevented from fulfilling their potential.
They are affected by negative attitudes and gender stereotyping that lead to inequality and unfairness.
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, Theirworld launches its #RewritingTheCode 2017 campaign today to highlight these cultural values and hidden codes that shape the everyday lives of women and girls.
Theirworld President Sarah Brown said: “The aim of the #RewritingtheCode campaign is to expose the codes and values that shape the world around us and ask questions such as: Why don’t girls around the world have equal access to education? Why don’t women have equal pay in the workplace?
“We want a future where no girl is left out of the classroom, the boardroom or the conversation.”
The campaign is a development of last year’s #RewritingTheCode initiative which aimed to give girls access to technology to increase their learning opportunities.
Theirworld currently facilitates Code Clubs in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Lebanon, providing girls with coding and programming skills to support their formal schooling.
The #RewritingTheCode campaign is supported by The Partners and is in collaboration with other WPP digital and creative marketing agencies.
Sarah added: “Working with WPP agency The Partners gives us the chance to get the campaigns seen and heard by a far greater number of people and make an emotional connection that results in real actions that help children around the world.”
As part of WPP’s commitment to Common Ground – the unprecedented industry-wide pledge to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – Theirworld has teamed up with WPP agencies The Partners, Kantar Added Value, Kantar Futures, MEC and VML to create a campaign that encourages leaders from all sectors to change negative attitudes and behaviours.
Nick Eagleton, Creative Director at The Partners, said: “#RewritingTheCode is an ideal project for Common Ground, sharing the same global ambitions and facilitating collaboration and communication between WPP agencies.
“To achieve the kind of worldwide change that Common Ground is looking to initiate, we knew from the start we wanted to work with Theirworld, a charity that has the influence and connections to bring real transformation on a global scale.”
Theirworld will also host a #RewritingTheCode/International Women’s Day event tomorrow at the Institute of Directors in London. Among the special guests will be French-American actor and dancer Leslie Caron and author Lynne Reid Banks.
Using the embedded code symbol as part of our campaign was an inspiring idea that came from Niamh Deehan.
She submitted the campaign to the D&AD New Blood Awards in 2015 and saw her idea come to fruition with the launch of both the #RewritingTheCode campaign and the Theirworld Code Clubs in Kibera, Kenya.
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