To decide what topics would be addressed in the output phase of this fellowship we each described our primary interests. Issues related to women were by far the most popular, probably because our speakers on this topic were among the most vivacious. When the five of us were told that we would have the opportunity to explore this expansive topic we worked quickly to narrow it down to something that we could manage. As emerging professionals, with new knowledge of the labor market and social-workplace dynamics, we found common ground and a need for change in wage policy. Our research showed us that when it comes to women’s average earnings as a percentage of men’s, Poland is the fourth least-equal country in Europe.[1] This wage disparity occurs not only between men and women within the same occupation, but through industrial and occupational segregation as well.[2] Since certain occupations are predominantly held by women, their low wages are “justified.” This payment structure reinforces the subordinate position of women and beliefs in female inferiority. As we prepared our brief we found that even this presumably narrow topic of wage inequality was too large to pin down in one social campaign. We would have to choose between white-collar professions or unionized jobs, and ignore the educational disparities that breed labor inequality. It was difficult for us to resist the broad-based, interdisciplinary thinking that we were each taught in our liberal arts and policy educations, and instead “keep it simple.” We found our tactic eventually by putting ourselves in the minds of employers. By considering what drives their hiring and salary decisions – to do what most benefits their company – we tried to convey that treating women equally would be a win for them.
For the creative process, our group was transferred to the topic of anti-rape. We had to work with a brief created by our colleagues, which was a challenge because we were left to convey their vision, not ours. Of course, this was the pedagogical method in swapping topics – Marek Dorobisz, Creative Director of Ars Thanea, wanted to jolt us out of our comfort zone. At first this was liberating because we got to approach a difficult subject from a fresh perspective, but we were quickly weighed down by the complexity of rape. Even within the “20-35 middle class, heterosexual male” target group, we could not decide if we needed to address consent between strangers who meet in bars, intimate lovers, or partygoers made incognizant through alcohol. We eventually found that consent was the common thread, since our focus was men who did not see their act as criminal, versus condemned criminals. We asked men to hear and see “yes” as a contrast “no;” our goal was to elucidate how sexual acts without full consent amount to an act of rape. Of course, this creation was the result of many hours of concept development and revision.Although this output phase provided a venue to study women’s issues, what proved most educational was building an effective team. With fellows from Ukraine, Poland, and the United States, our discussions took various perspectives on female equality and sexual relations between men and women. It is a real, but rewarding, challenge to negotiate different languages and cultural norms into a single vision. Also fulfilling was the push to explore what are undoubtedly human rights issues from a foreign sector, the world of advertising. We had to let go of our long-term, problem-solving tendencies and move our concern to creating an attention-grabbing social campaign specifically for the present moment. Many of us may stick to our policy and NGO roots in our future careers, but the experience we gained in an advertising office will inform our public relations efforts in the future.
Alina Iovcheva
Dagna Lewandowska
Alexandria Margolis
Kristin Meagher
Michelle Shofet
