Search shines a light on women’s untold stories

Start exploring women’s
untold stories

Stories can often misrepresent reality

Since marketers connect by storytelling, we must be careful not to perpetuate harmful assumptions or stigmas.

Men speak almost 2X as much as women in advertising.2

Instead, sharing untold stories can change the norm and connect your brand to more people

For example, Vaseline told the story of Madam Lee. She uses their product on her cuts so she can keep working all day

and stay competitive in the blade-sharpening industry, which is typically dominated by men.

Despite facing bias from customers who told her she would never be as good as her father, Madam Lee has run her family shop for decades.

The scars all over her hands tell the story of her long labor of love, serving her customers with the greatest skill.

Telling Madam Lee’s story helps people see women across industries. It challenges norms and shows the Vaseline brand in a unique way.

When brands are aware of women’s needs, everybody wins

Volvo found women were more likely to get injured in car crashes.

Knowing seat belts were designed for male crash test dummies, the company tested with dummies of all sizes,

ultimately keeping people of all body types safer.

Women don’t have the same freedom of safety as men.

In India, searches for “self defence for women” are 30X higher than “self defence for men”.4

Due to the high risk of sexual violence and forced slave labor, India is considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries for women. Around 800 women are affected every day — and that’s just the cases that are actually reported.1

We see many searches about protective products and services made for women’s safety needs in APAC.

  • Searches for “women helpline number” in India were up 66% in 2020 compared to 2018.2
  • India, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines had the highest concentration of searches related to women’s public safety in 2020 (for example, “missing woman”, “taser for women”, and “pepper spray for women”).3
Sources
  1. Reuters, Exclusive: India Most Dangerous Country for Women with Sexual Violence Rife, June 2018. Accessed May 2021.
  2. Google Trends, India, “women helpline number”, 2018 vs. 2020.
  3. Google Trends, Global, Female – Public Safety, 2020.

To help close this gap, consider opportunities to expand your definition of the products and services you offer

Vodafone created a free service in India that lets women register 10 emergency contacts

Women are less likely to be working. They earn less money and are underserved by financial institutions.5

Last year, searches for “loans for women” grew by over 70% year over year in India, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.6

Women are 23% less likely to be participating in the workforce when compared to males in Southeast Asia — a region where 650 million people don’t have bank accounts.1

Women turned to Search for help:

  • Searches for “loans for women” grew by 70% in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and 80% in India year over year.2
  • Searches for “jobs for women” are 3.2X higher than searches for “jobs for men.”3
  • Other top related searches in APAC include:4
    • “equal pay for women”
    • “scholarship for women”
    • “women entrepreneur grant”
    • “online jobs for women at home”
  • Searches related to unemployment in Japan were up 35% in 2020.5 Of the 1 million jobs lost last year, 59% belonged to women.6
Sources
  1. World Bank, Financial Inclusion on the Rise, but Gaps Remain, Global Findex Database Shows, April 2018. Accessed May 2021.
  2. Google Trends, IN, HK, PH, SG, “loans for women”, 2019 vs. 2020.
  3. Google Trends, India, “jobs for women”, 2018 vs. 2020.
  4. Google Trends, IN, HK, PH, SG, “for women”, Finance, 2019 vs. 2020.
  5. Google Trends, Japan, Unemployment, 2019 vs. 2020.
  6. Bloomberg, Japan’s Women Disproportionately Hurt by COVID-19 Income Slump, July 2020. Accessed May 2021.

Serving all your customers might mean considering the specific needs of women

A challenger bank in Latin America is focusing on solving the problems women face when opening and managing bank accounts.7

Disproportionate expectations are placed on women regarding their bodies to:

1

Have an attractive appearance

2

Have children

Searches for “weight loss app for women” have grown by 130% in India, and as women try to take more control of their bodies, we see a similar rise in searches for “female condoms”.8

Disproportionate expectations are placed on women regarding their bodies to:

1

Have an attractive appearance

2

Have children

Searches for “weight loss app for women” have grown by 130% in India, and as women try to take more control of their bodies, we see a similar rise in searches for “female condoms”.8

Women are turning to Search for answers about their health:

  • +130% year-over-year growth in searches for “weight loss app for women” in India1
  • +350% year-over-year growth in searches for “body fat percentage female” in Singapore2
  • +130% year-over-year growth in searches for “female condoms” in India3
  • 23% more searches for “women’s health” than for “men’s health” in India4

Modern society is trying to understand body shaming:

  • +150% year-over-year growth of hashtag mentions related to body shaming in Indonesia from 2018 to 20195
  • +130% year-over-year growth in searches related to body shaming in Thailand. For example, “body shaming is” and “what is body shaming”.6
  • +70% growth related to body shaming in India. For example, “बॉडी शेमिंग क्या है”, (“what is body shaming”), “body shaming quotes”, and “body shaming after pregnancy quotes”.7
  • +90% growth in searches related to body shaming in the Philippines. For example, “what is body shaming” and “body shaming advocacy”.8
Sources
  1. Google Trends, India, “weight loss app for women”, 2019 vs. 2020.
  2. Google Trends, Singapore, “body fat percentage female”, 2019 vs. 2020.
  3. Google Trends, India, “female condoms”, 2019 vs. 2020.
  4. Google Trends, India, Women’s Health, Men’s Health, 2019 vs. 2020.
  5. Brandwatch, Indonesia, ZAP Beauty Index 2020, Aug. 2020.
  6. Google Trends, Thailand, Body Shaming, 2019 vs. 2020.
  7. Google Trends, India, Body Shaming, 2019 vs. 2020.
  8. Google Trends, Philippines, Body Shaming, 2019 vs. 2020.

An understanding of what makes your customers unique can help you connect to new ones

In Japan, clothing brands usually make clothes with idealistic images of beauty and size in mind.

Punyus by Naomi Watanabe offers larger sizes — catering to all customers, not shaming them.

Next Story

Dissecting the rising gaming trend in Asia

By SAPNA CHADHA

Senior Country Marketing Director, Southeast Asia & India

Credits

Story: Jess Duarte; Design & Animation: PHQ (Agency); Product Lead: Casey Fictum; Production Lead: Jenny Maughan.

Sources

1.
The Guardian, The Deadly Truth About a World Built for Men — From Stab Vests to Car Crashes, Feb. 2019. Accessed May 2021.
2.
Think with Google, What 2.7M YouTube Ads Reveal About Gender Bias in Marketing, Nov. 2019. Accessed May 2021.
3.
Google Trends, Global, “women’s helmets” vs. “men’s helmets”, 2020.
4.
Google Trends, India, “self defence classes for women”, 2019 vs. 2020.
5.
World Bank, Financial Inclusion on the Rise, but Gaps Remain, Global Findex Database Shows, April 2018. Accessed May 2021.
6.
Google Trends, IN, HK, PH, SG, “loans for women”, 2019 vs. 2020.
7.
Techwire Asia, How Fintech Could Empower SEA’s Female Entrepreneurs, Oct. 2020. Accessed May 2021.
8.
Google Trends, India, “weight loss app for women”, “female condoms”, 2019 vs. 2020.