BNP Paribas has been a partner of the United Nations' Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development since 2017 and actively participates in the implementation of the world's recovery plan. A key focus in the bank's activities is on equalizing opportunities for women and addressing the gender gap.

The aim of the campaign was to show that language matters and influences how people perceive professions. Even when both masculine and feminine noun forms are present in the Polish language the masculine one is often considered the default or standard. Invisibility in language increases women's vulnerability to exclusion and discrimination, and causes that from a young age, certain professions evoke images of men, not women.

We decided to change this, because every word matters. By promoting gender-inclusive language, we can pave the way for more female representation in various professions.

Feminine job titles in Poland are often subject to ridicule and mockery, resulting in negative comments during any discussions on the topic. Our goal was to break down this barrier of ridicule and raise awareness that discussing feminine profession names is not solely a linguistic issue, but also influences children's perceptions of professions. In this way, we wanted to show how important a role feminine profession names play.

Through our research, we asked nearly 250 primary school students to draw a scientist, a person who does a scientific work, and other professionals, revealing how the use of masculine titles affects children's perceptions of gender in certain professions. As expected, 80% of the images of scientists drawn by children depicted a man.

Our results and accompanying video became the foundation of our campaign, concentrated around the slogan "Every Word Matters" in which we encouraged the use of feminine names of professions.

Before starting the campaign, we researched nearly 250 primary school students and surveyed adults online to examine how feminine job titles impact perceptions of representatives in various professions. Our goal was to understand adult attitudes towards feminine job titles and gather evidence of how the use of masculine job titles affects children's perception of these professions. We distributed the research report on the campaign website, to media representatives, and shared a video about the research online and in cinemas.

To encourage the use of feminine profession names, we created the largest online dictionary of feminine forms of job titles in Poland. We also recruited influential male and female influencers to promote the use of them, giving each a personalized sweatshirt with the feminine form of their profession or campaign hashtag.

We also implemented internal activities to enable bank employees to officially use feminine job titles and promoted their use.

"Every Word Matters" campaign started with launching a website, containing the largest online dictionary of feminine job titles, along with a report on research among primary school students, a research video, and a podcast dedicated to feminine forms. A widget was created to use the dictionary on other sites.

Running from July 17 to October 31, 2023, the campaign aimed to build reach, bring quality traffic to the website, and display the research video to as many users as possible. It used banner ads, programmatic videos, and native articles in partnership, and utilized the bank's social media channels (Facebook and LinkedIn), reaching 10 million unique users.

The shortened research video was displayed over 370,000 times before movies in Cinema City cinemas. We also recruited influencers to promote feminine profession names, giving each a personalized sweatshirt, inspiring a social trend to wear clothes with feminine forms of professions.

The digital campaign reached 10 million unique users in Poland in a society of 38 million, generating almost 36 million views. The campaign's website was visited by over 100,000 unique users who actively used the dictionary of feminine job titles. User interest and suggestions doubled the number of word in the dictionary.

The bank's YouTube channel featured the full 3-minute version of the research video which garnered over 340,000 views. Ads containing the full video reached over 700,000 unique users.

We sparked a discussion about female profession names and popularized their use. The "Every Word Matters" campaign was mentioned over 800 times on facebook and Instagram, reaching 1.7 million people and eliciting over 25,000 interactions and additionally received over 16,000 reactions and 2,000 comments on LinkedIn.

Our research and conclusions were used in the official guide for teachers prepared by the City of Warsaw promoting equality language in schools.