Morgan Stanley, John Hancock, Ernst & Young, and Proctor & Gamble were among 34 companies that illuminated buildings with giant symbols of the female on the eve of International Women’s Day as part of a global campaign to push for equality in the workplace.
In all, 30 buildings carried the symbol, changing the skyline in cities like New York and Toronto Wednesday evening. The building-sized message is part of the Catalyst Skyline Takeover campaign to showcase a dedication to advancing women in the corporate world. Catalyst is non-profit that works with companies to make their workplaces more inclusive.
Some companies projected a red female symbol (♀) on their building, while other businesses lit windows to depict the image.
Our EY offices tonight light up the skyline in Toronto and NYC in celebration of all women at EY and in our communities around the world #CatalystForChange @EYnews @CatalystInc #pressforprogress @EY_WFF pic.twitter.com/56MN61qrV0
— Karyn Twaronite (@KTwaronite_EY) March 8, 2018
The messaging began Wednesday night and will remain through Thursday to celebrate International Women’s Day. A number of commercial real estate, insurance, and financial services companies participated including BMO, Cadillac Fairview CIBC, Colpatria Multibanca del Grupo Scotiabank, Deloitte Canada, RBC, and Sun Life Financial.
The aim is to spur action. The campaign is pushing women and men to work on creating diverse and inclusive workplaces. Even though women make up 47% of workforces in the U.S. and Canada, men still lead more than 95% of the most powerful companies around the world, according to Catalyst.
Catalyst is advocating companies to press for progress by taking 10 immediate actions to help build workplaces that work for women, including adding more females to boards.