ItsHerWay – UAE's leading female entrepreneur network – activated a brand campaign on social media platforms in partnership with leading makeup influencers, to shed light on the persisting gender pay gap in the region, inspire women to speak up against it, and get companies to take steps towards eliminating it. It was a low budget campaign that went viral and exploded on social platforms, earning top of mind brand awareness and positive sentiment for ItsHerWay.

According to UN Women and World Economic Forum, women globally get paid 23% less than men, but in the GCC – this number rises to 54% (52% in UAE), according to a study by Bayt – the Middle East's #1 job site.

The UAE is a patriarchal society with a male-dominated workforce. While women have started working in the last few decades, ratios remain skewed towards men (exceptions only in big cities like Dubai, and more in multinational corporations).

As a result, women struggle to get paid equally to men. And because of culturally ingrained mindsets, they hesitate to ask for equal pay. When they do, they get labeled as 'pushy', 'bossy', 'difficult', 'demanding', etc., and risk losing opportunities.

In the region's culture, there remains a segregation between men and women – androgynous behaviour such as women dressing as men, is often frowned upon, and considered unacceptable/ taboo.

The region also has very high social media penetration, with almost 100% of the population active on multiple social platforms like WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter (now X), and LinkedIn. In 2023 – UAE was named Social Media Capital of the world with the highest number of social media users per population.

Women in the region, who are traditionally reserved, become active on social media, using it to explore the world and express themselves. Out of the content they consume, makeup tutorials rank highest, especially among working women who watch professional makeup looks for interviews, meetings, events, etc.

Globally, women get paid 23% less than men, but in the GCC – this number rises to 54% (52% in UAE).

ItsHerWay.com – the UAE's leading female entrepreneur network – wanted to launch a low-budget and purposeful campaign on social media to help fight this gap, with the objective of maximising reach to achieve brand love and top-of-mind awareness for ItsHerWay through word-of-mouth, while also benefitting women in the country.

We decided to use one of the most popular social media content formats consumed by women in the workforce – makeup tutorials – and turn it into a tool for women to speak up against the gender pay gap. What begins as a regular makeup tutorial, eventually shows the woman using makeup to transform into a man. As this shocks audiences, we communicate the more shocking and unacceptable fact that sometimes, what it takes for a woman to get paid as much as a man – is to be a man.

Data shows that makeup tutorials are the most popular type of social content consumed by women in the region – and a lot of these cater to women in the workforce, seeking the perfect professional makeup for a job interview, important meeting, or work event.

This presented us with the perfect opportunity to target our core audience of women in the workforce through a content format that would interest them and get their attention before we communicate our message inspiring them to take action and speak up against the gender pay gap.

In order to maximise our reach, we decided to partner with popular makeup influencers with a large follower base and launch the campaign as a social challenge on TikTok – the platform where makeup content is most popular amongst our core target group – and increase the potential for organic, word-of-mouth virality.

We partnered with popular makeup influencers Chloe Widera and Sarah Sequeira to launch the challenge on LinkedIn and popularise it through TikTok, all with one iconic hashtag: #MakeUpForThePay_Gap

Chloe, who has an active presence on LinkedIn, was invited to an ItsHerWay Women's Careers Day Live Stream on LinkedIn, where she began as a speaker, but then shocked viewers with a makeup tutorial of her transforming into a man. She then spoke about the gender pay gap and invited viewers to join her in speaking up against it by taking the #MakeUpForThePay_Gap challenge.

On TikTok, the challenge was launched through ItsHerWay's page, in partnership with Sarah, targeting our core audience of women in the workforce and men in leadership positions.

Finally, on International Equal Pay Day, ItsHerWay hosted the region's first Equal Pay conference, where companies of all sizes took a tangible pledge to end the gender pay gap.

+13.5 million views on TikTok within the first week of launching the challenge, with +25K interactions and +350% increase in positive sentiment around ItsHerWay.

The launch of the challenge resulted in a 1000% increase in engagement and a 260% increase in traffic on ItsHerWay's social media pages.

#MakeUpForThePay_Gap started trending on TikTok with +200 women using our beard filter or actually using makeup to take the challenge.

Finally, ItsHerWay hosted the region's first Equal Pay conference on International Pay Day attended by dozens of local companies who pledged to end the gender pay gap.