Jasmin Bedir, CEO of Innocean and creator of Fck The Cupcakes and Yeah The Pies! confesses that she has been sitting on this op-ed since January, having written and re-written it a number of times. It is difficult, she explains, to have clarity in thought when you feel like you’re living in The Twilight Zone.
Ahead of B&T’s Women in Media Awards, presented by Are Media, Bedir penned this raw and urgent op-ed — part rally cry, part reckoning — reflecting on four years of pushing for genuine gender equity in advertising, and questioning whether the industry is truly moving forward or dangerously slipping back.
ENTER B&T’s WOMEN IN MEDIA AWARDS, PRESENTED BY ARE MEDIA NOW!
A lot has changed since I started Fckthecupcakes (FTC) 4 years ago, around IWD 21.
We started with the idea to fight performative DEI tactics in workplaces (like cupcakes and a pat on the back once a year). We were hoping to engage men in the discourse around misogyny and equality through ad campaigns, research, events, training and creating genuine conversations. And honestly, it felt hard. We nailed the sentiment around women in the industry and the engagement was huge. But, and this is a big but – we struggled with what we set out to do, engaging men.
In 2024 we launched Yeah The Pies! – our solely male-focused program to bring men together to unpack gender bias and talk openly about vulnerability, all while cooking up important conversations about masculinity. Those who attended loved it, but getting them to attend in the first place was harder than we could have imagined.
Sometimes it’s easy to feel disillusioned, and for the past couple of months I had to turn inwards and re-assess whether this was all really worth it, and whether it was actually bringing us forward. Where was the progress?
Looking back it feels like things are going backwards real quick. Last year, we had a very public industry debate about representation of women in creative departments, which resulted in a shoulder shrug and business as usual in most agencies. There is still very little consequence for the worst offenders of inequality, but plenty of opportunity for performative award wins and IWD events.
We witnessed Australia’s Media reckoning with Channel 9, but maybe not surprisingly, resulting in little change.
We witnessed Australia’s Media reckoning with Channel 9, but maybe not surprisingly, resulting in not much little change.
There were days this March that felt absolutely surreal, walking from home in Surry Hills to our office in Darlinghurst during Mardi Gras preparations whilst listening to the U.S. president announcing the end of transgender civil rights and the business world in the U.S.declaring the end of DEI to kiss the ring. Tech bros were touting the need for more masculine energy in boardrooms, whilst ironically only 30% of boardseats were occupied by women.
Spotify decided that Andrew Tate’s “educational workshops” with content titled such as “Pimping hoes” made for an excellent revenue opportunity and only pulled it after a concerted change.org campaign.
This is all happening whilst we’ve just completed Australia’s worst year on record for Men’s violence against women, despite some incredibly smart people like Jess Hill, have shown pathways to improvement that are consistently being ignored and underfunded.
But the funding of redemption arcs of convicted criminals of domestic violence, such as Ben Cousins at Channel 7 persists. I wonder how his ex-partner feels, seeing him on TV, even though he had been given a 12-month prison sentence, with a magistrate saying that his former partner and mother of his children was subjected to nine months of terror. He was “troubled”, you know.
Ahh, the troubled men. All those good guys, that just, you know, had it tough.
We do not give the same grace to women, not even when they haven’t committed a crime at all.
Sorry if my mood brings you down. I guess we’ll always have Katy Perry in space. That’s progress, right?
I’m genuinely oscillating between despair and a “let’s go f@cking harder” mood depending on what I read in my news browser first thing in the morning.
If you have met me, you know I don’t give up easily. You’ll also know that I talk a lot about the crisis of teenage boys and the inclusion needs of men. Controversial for a raging feminist? I don’t think so. If men keep seeing equality as a zero-sum game, it’s definitely bye-bye DEI – a sentiment reflected in Gen Z men’s Support for traditional gender norms .
So here I am, asking you not to give up. In fact, I’d like you to do more. Much more.
Now more than ever, we need to fight for women’s rights, extend the ladder down, embrace minorities and those who need support, and celebrate those doing the hard work.
I’ve always believed that with the privilege of power comes the responsibility to do better and bring us forward, but it’s not easy at all, and it can feel very lonely and scary at times. So let’s recognise this and give them some love.
Now is not the time to be silent, in particular when you have the power to do something or say something that brings us forward. So here’s to all the activists in our industry, no matter what gender, I see you, I feel you. But also to those who would like to do more but are not in a position to speak up. Don’t underestimate the power you can bring by supporting and lifting up those who are spearheading important initiatives in our industry. We’re very hard to ignore when we all stick together.
Let’s go.
ENTER B&T’s WOMEN IN MEDIA AWARDS, PRESENTED BY ARE MEDIA NOW!
