In 2017 and early 2018, the term #MeToo evolved from referring to victims of sexual assault to a full-blown women’s movement. Spreading from the film industry to politics to virtually every sector of our society, the movement has certainly also made an impact on corporate culture.
From Guess to Stuart Weitzman to Nike to Lululemon, fashion and footwear companies have made changes to address sexual misconduct complaints. But is the #MeToo movement really creating long-lasting change? Keds chief marketing officer Emily Culp offers her perspective on the issue in our clip above.
“Have they changed company culture overnight? No. But are they creating meaningful dialogues and started to impact policies within companies? Absolutely,” she said. “And I think if the continued momentum happens, there can be more change, but I want to go back to a point that I do feel that, in order to drive the change that’s necessary it needs to be fact-based. I think it needs to be tied to data, in order for change to really happen.”
Culp noted that statistically, it’s been proven that companies that have a diversity of thought leadership have better financial results, and including different genders at the table is a way to get a diversity of thought leadership. Specifically, she noted that better maternity policies create higher retention rates.
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But she said, “As a country, we have not been as supportive of women as we should be.”
Want more?
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6 Female Footwear Forces on Overcoming Challenges, Leading During #MeToo
