Women earn less and make it up to the manger’s level rather seldom. The counteroffensive comes from the HypoVereinsbank, which has initiated a very untypical Women’s advisory board. Instead of officers responsible for equal ranking there are female entrepreneurs and female managers discussing about modern gender equality and have started their first projects directly in the bank. Dorten’s female employees (and the male ones) take care of the appropriate communication.
Claudia, does one try to design the communication for a women’s advisory board typically feminine, or to the contrary?
We wanted neither typical girls’ clichés with pink and florets nor masculine illustrations with ostentation. The communication is supposed to display women’s situation on the job market, without falling into victim hood or being too defiant. The women’s advisory board shall be understood as a resonator and this is why we worked with large, striking speech bubbles and graphic charts.
The „XX“ behind HVB does not stand for the female chromosomes …
Additionally, that is a hint on the glossary within the HypoVereinsbank, where every division has its own abbreviation. And of course, the division of the HVB women’s advisory board had to get the abbreviation “XX”.
After decades of the feminist movement, is it actually necessary to have a women’s advisory board?
Before this project, I would have said no, because it appears to me that women and men are treated equally. But for instance, after researching on that topic, we have found out that there are only 4% women in corporate executive boards. Yet, that shows that such initiatives are still urgently needed.
What is it about equal rights at Dorten?
We have always had a minimal labour surplus of Women at Dorten. And since Nina is at the management board, leadership positions are equally shared.
www.hvb-xx.de
