International Women’s Day 2025: Key Engagement Tactics
Published 07 March 2025
4 min read
Amid increasing gender polarisation globally, International Women’s Day (March 8) provides a prime opportunity for brands to signal their commitment to gender equality. We unpack key engagement tactics, including B&Q championing British tradeswomen, Beyond Equality’s billboard campaign responding to a viral pop cultural moment and Barbie’s spotlight on female friendship.
- B&Q’s Women in Trade Photoshoot & Apprenticeships: With women accounting for just 2% of UK tradespeople (B&Q, 2025), British home improvement retailer B&Q has partnered with UK-based feminist photographer Sane Seven for a series of portraits depicting ten British tradeswomen. The rather literal but well executed shot was set within a lift, symbolising the uplifting of positive industry role models.
The photo series responds to research from B&Q which found a lack of woman role models is a critical barrier preventing girls from entering the trade industry. The research also found that 50% of British girls aged 16-18 believe they don’t receive the same opportunities in the trade industry as boys. B&Q has pledged £1m to fund apprenticeships for women and girls across trade sectors including carpentry, plumbing, and painting and decorating.
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- Beyond Equality Billboards Riff on Viral Clip: British charity Beyond Equality, which advocates for positive masculinity (a concept which strives to challenge harmful masculine gender roles), launched a campaign referencing a viral clip of British talk show The Graham Norton Show, which saw American-Irish actress Saoirse Ronan prompting Irish actor Paul Mescal to consider the reality of how women are forced to navigate the world – such as considering how a mobile phone could be used as a weapon against an attacker.
Following research that found roughly 60% of men believe women’s safety concerns are sometimes exaggerated (Beyond Equality, 2025), the campaign encourages men to empathise with women’s safety fears by displaying contrasting captions of men’s and women’s perceptions of common objects and scenarios. Referencing Ronan’s comments, a billboard displaying a mobile phone is split between the captions: “mobile device” and “self-defence device”. Others include a replica tube map with “mind the gap” and “mind the rub”, as well as a cocktail with the captions “cheers!” versus “spiked?”.
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- Kaai’s Expands its Bibliophilic Tactics: Belgian women-founded handbag brand Kaai is furthering its existing bibliophilic brand comms, which include a branded book club. It sends customers a complimentary copy of British feminist author Caroline Criado Perez’s 2019 book Invisible Women, which spotlights the widespread data biases that harm women (such as automotive manufacturers only using crash test dummies modelled on the male body, despite women being disproportionately harmed in car accidents), with purchases of its spring summer collection.
For more on brands leveraging literary culture see Bibliophilic Brand Connectors in Global Store Openings: Vol 1, 2025.
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- L’Oreal China Podcast Depicts Triumph Over Self Doubt: Harnessing Chinese consumers’ growing appetite for branded podcasts (see Podcasting’s New Wave in Pop Culture Primer 2025), global beauty giant L’Oreal launched a series of 14 podcasts on Chinese podcasting platform Xiaoyuzhou.
Aligned to the theme “every step is worth it” (a loose interpretation of L’Oreal’s English language tagline: “because you’re worth it”), the episodes feature prominent Chinese women including film director Congcong Teng, plus-size fashion designer Yang Tianzhen and Olympic swimmer Ye Shiwen candidly discussing how they overcame self-doubt and personal obstacles to achieve their success.
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- Barbie Viewing Parties Spotlight Female Friendship: American doll brand Barbie is highlighting the importance of female friendship with the launch of four friendship duo dolls for IWD (including American Olympic team gymnasts Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey, and Brazilian disability advocates Paola Antonini and Kelen Ferreira).
Extending Barbie’s friendship focus, the brand is partnering with American peer mentoring non-profit Girl Talk to host viewing parties throughout March for recently released film Barbie and Teresa: Recipe for Friendship. Hosted in Atlanta, the parties borrow from Girl Talk’s curriculum on friendship to encourage young girls to be proactive in engaging with their friends and community.
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