Pinterest has launched a new campaign to support women globally, and empower women entrepreneurs. Throughout March, Pinterest will launch a special International Women Day edition of the Pinterest shop.

This version will exclusively feature women-owned, mission-driven small businesses from around the world.

The virtual window shopping initiative will also allow twenty-five entrepreneurs to reach global consumers as they are planning their next project with a strong commercial intent

B&T spoke to Lottie Laws, Sales Director for ANZ at Pinterest (pictured below) about the campaign.

B&T: Why has Pinterest started the International Women’s Day fund?

LL: We’ve all been challenged over this past year, and at Pinterest, we felt it was important to take stock and recognise the unique impact this pandemic has had on women.

Globally, women make up seventy per cent of health and social care workers, many of whom are putting their own lives at risk every day to treat patients with COVID-19. We have seen a mass exodus from the workforce for women across all professions, with Black, Indigenous, and women of colour disproportionately impacted worldwide.

Working mothers are reporting burnout and feeling forgotten, and since lockdowns started around the world, there has been an uptick in global domestic violence reports. In short, what we have witnessed in the last year—but we are not talking about nearly enough—is that women seem to be suffering more. So at Pinterest we thought, what can we do about this?

We’ve set up an International Women’s Day fund, and will be doubling any donation made by our employees to nonprofits that support women’s success, like the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Global Fund for Women.

How do you empower women outside of events like International Women’s Day?

Women have always come to Pinterest to discover inspiration to create the life they love. From recipes to house renovations, budget planning to fashion ideas and career inspiration to bucket-list trip planning – millions of women come to the platform every month to plan and be inspired.

Women and especially SMB decision-makers, are also coming to Pinterest to learn from others and find ideas for their business and beyond. For example, SMB Pinners are +two times more likely to search for finance ideas on Pinterest (Source: Pinterest Internal data, SMB Pinners category engagement compared to general Pinners, Australia, 02-01-2020 – 01-31-2021).

At Pinterest we’re focused on building an inclusive platform where everyone can feel welcome and empowered every day of the year. For us, a big part of this is for people to feel represented and we’re working on features to ensure everyone can see themselves when searching for ideas and inspiration on the platform.

What was the impetus behind the International Women’s Day Pinterest Shop?

Small businesses all over the world use Pinterest to help grow them grow, and to drive sales. What’s interesting is that ninety-seven per cent of the top searches on Pinterest are actually unbranded, which means if you are searching for home decor ideas for example, you’re likely not to include a brand name in your search term, and instead search something like ‘green sofa’.

So, it’s a level playing field for brands on Pinterest because no matter the size or location of a business, it has the opportunity to be discovered by shoppers on the platform.

This is super empowering for small businesses in particular, as it gives them the opportunity to gain visibility and attract new audiences – audiences who are coming with a commercial mindset, but that may not know yet exactly what they’re looking for. Brands can therefore reach and inspire their audience at a critical moment in the pathway to purchase.

Knowing the power of the platform for small businesses, and the fact that late last year almost 98,000 fewer university-educated women in Australia had work than at the start of the pandemic (according to the ABS Labour Force Study from November 2020), we felt compelled to do something to support female-owned and mission-driven small businesses as part of our International Women’s Day campaign. The Pinterest Shop gives small businesses ModiBodi and Koh Living in Australia the opportunity to reach and inspire a global customer base.

The campaign throughout March will be spotlighting and platforming female leaders: do you have plans to continue that once the campaign is finished?

Pinterest is the place where women all over the world come to discover inspirational content to take action on, in order to create a life they love. Much of this content comes directly from truly inspirational women, and this is something we celebrate all year round.

Through our ‘Today tab’ we love to spotlight local female founders, entrepreneurs and creatives, who can share their knowledge to help Pinners build a life – and maybe launch a business – they’ll love. This month you can be inspired by the likes of Lucy Feagins, Samantha Wills, and Eleanor Pendleton.

Do you think the struggles of 2020 have increased the need for female empowerment?

2020 was a journey and a challenge for all of us, with women in particular facing huge challenges in terms of job losses, not to mention juggling multiple responsibilities with childcare and home life. We’ve welcomed over 100 million more Pinners to the platform in the last year, with women increasingly coming to Pinterest to navigate through times of change.

In the face of job losses and uncertainty around job security, now more than ever, women are in search of ideas for how to reimagine their careers. We’ve seen searches for “small business plan” up fifty times and boards created by women for their “business checklist” up five times, with boards for “dream jobs” up ten times. Women are building confidence for their next chapter with searches such as “powerful business woman aesthetic” twenty-eight times.

At Pinterest we believe that when women succeed, we all do, and it’s been truly inspiring to see how women are betting on themselves and seeking empowerment to overcome the challenges of the past year and plan a bright future.