Do people know about the Women’s Future Fund? This is their mandate:
The Women’s Future Fund (WFF) is the first and only national women’s fundraising federation in Canada.
We are a collaboration of women’s organizations pooling our resources to ensure that all women and girls can enjoy the equality rights that Canada offers.
It’s a really interesting idea, and I’m not sure how much success it is having. One of the things they’ve done to promote the Fund is a new series of public service announcements called “A Day in the Life of Canadian Women”. Basically, that’s their first mistake right there. I’m going to link to the ads in a second but I want to disclaim first that I do not think they are in any way representative of what an average Canadian women struggles with every day. A better title would have been “A Day in the Life of the Sort of Canadian Woman who we Think Could Probably Afford to Donate Money to us.” That’s not a complete dismissal of the ad, but it really needs to be said!
Okay! Here is the link to the site with the ads. The other excellent choice that has been made is to have ALL FIVE (or whatever) ads there as ONE LONG MOVIE so you can’t view/share specific ones. The first one is the best, I think. I feel like they should have actually just built the campaign around that ad, and then maybe done some different ones down the road that were more representative a spectrum of Canadian women’s lives.
I can really relate to the first ad. I’ve been the woman that everyone ignores at the meeting. I remember my roommate pointing out at a meeting of the Nova Scotia NDP Youth Wing “Young women never get to finish a sentence at these meetings” and the president (who was my boyfriend at the time) saying “Penelope is saying things that aren’t true again” and walking out of the room. Awesome.
Back to you! What do you think of the ads?
p.s. I finally found the email where our darling Wesley sent me my blogging password! Hi!
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two comments
I finally figured out how to watch the ads! (I think maybe the link you posted doesn't quite work? It seems to just take you to a black screen.)
Yeah, I totally agree. I have been in meetings (and restaurants and cars and...) where I've felt voiceless but it's not exactly the worst kind of sexism that I've experienced - or seen other women experience for that matter.
The ads are good because they're kinda cute and funny but still get the message across - and I hope that this campaign goes well, but the representation problems definitely put a damper on it.
Do you think they're not aware of the fact that, on the scale of things, the woman they present in their ads is pretty priveleged? Maybe they are working on the "A Day in the Life of a Canadian Woman of Colour" or, "A Day in the life of a Low-Income Canadian Woman" (in which case they should really rename this series "A Day in the ilfe of a Middle-Class White Canadian Woman").
Posted by Thea
April 27, 2007, 9:49 AM
Thanks to Audra for posting this and for your comment Thea, you raise some very important issues and we agree that these ads don't represent all women. We'd just like to explain a little why the videos look like they do.
First of all, the campaign was offered to us pro bono by a huge PR firm. We suggested a bunch of performers who might be included and Rebecca Northam and Jessica Holmes happened to be the two who stepped up to volunteer - and we really appreciate their time and support. Given that all of the labour had to be volunteer, behind and in front of the camera, we had limited control over the selection. Having some "star" power has achieved one important goal - to get these videos circulating. Since gender equality has been all but wiped off the map, something splashy, we felt, was definitely better than nothing at all, or than preaching to the converted.
The work of our own members serves the women you describe, but the audience we decided to target with this campaign is women who do not identify as feminists, and in fact may take the position that no barriers have impeded their success (in the corporate world, for example). We wanted them to be able to relate to the scenes depicted, and to be moved to act. And Audra is correct: we are trying to reach potential donors, because the WFF itself and our members have been hit very hard by the Status of Women cuts and must bring in new money quickly to survive. If we do survive to continue this work, we have all kinds of visions for more public awareness campaigns that extend our reach further, and address gender equality issues in a more complex way.
Thanks again for your comments, and please spread the word!
Posted by Women's Future Fund
May 10, 2007, 12:57 PM
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