B&T’s Young Lions bloggers, UM’s Charlotte Berry (left in photo below) and Grace Espinoza, are back with their latest postcard from Cannes. And this time they’ve dropped in on a session with none other than Facebook guru Sheryl Sandberg…

BOOM! Just attended the Gender Equality session hosted by P&G with Sheryl Sandberg, FB COO, Tina Brown, Live Media, Madonna Badger, Badger and Winters, Michael Pritchard, the host from P&G.

When Pritchard told the festival he was going to host a talk on gender equality, their response was that it was an old topic that has already been talked about. This is problematic in itself, and symbolic of the movement towards gender equality stalling.

Here are the facts, 28 per cent of advertising depicts women negatively, men speak out seven-times more than women for what the want, and the Fortune 500 CEO list is only five per cent women.

The inequality chat has high talk index but low action and outcome index. The world is still lacking positive role models to lead this action. We are more comfortable when we stick to the stereotype which is why they are so hard to break.

However it’s been proven that brands acting on gender equality is extremely beneficial, garnering eight to 10 per cent more positive sentiment. There is no “trade off” for using powerful women in advertising.

In fact, we have a responsibility to do so in order to normalise gender equality – you can’t be what you can’t see. So how can you check whether conscious or unconscious gender bias exists? Empathy. Ask yourself if you would be comfortable acting in that ad.

Here are the top tips for action:

1. Madonna Badger – get a mentor, be a mentor

2. Tina Brown – make gender stereotypes uncool

3. Sheryl Sandberg – change the culture

4. Michael Pritchard – collaborate for good

As marketers we hold the power to redefine the image of gender inequality. Having two young women take out the Silver Young Media Lions is walking talking proof of girl power!