Gender inequality is still a major challenge in the Netherlands, especially in top positions. Only 5% of all CEOs are women and gender stereotyping is still a massive barrier. We discovered the shocking statistic that in all the listed companies in the Netherlands there are actually more CEOs named Peter than female CEOs. WOMEN Inc. and Branded/U have always been fighting for gender equality in the Netherlands and wanted to put this issue high on the agenda at big companies and in Parliament. That is why the campaign ‘My name is Peter’ was created.

For years there has been a lot of debate about enacting a law that would require companies to put more women in leadership positions. This would create more opportunities for women, but it is also about companies communicating to girls and women that they can lead. There are 89 listed companies in the Netherlands and 95% of the CEOs are men. Only 5% of all top positions are held by women. Change should come from awareness and the companies’ own desire to put more women at the top. WOMEN Inc. and Branded/U have always been fighting for gender equality in the Netherlands and wanted to put this issue high on the agenda at big companies and in Parliament. That is why the campaign ‘My name is Peter’ was created.

My name is Peter is an awareness campaign on LinkedIn that asked women to change their names to Peter to increase their chances of becoming a CEO. With the help of multiple influential women and a toolkit, we launched the campaign. These women, including football player Rocky Hehakaija and the editor-in-chief of Vogue Yeliz Cicek, all changed their names to Peter for one week and asked others to do the same. Thousands of women followed suit and changed their names to Peter, spreading awareness at the companies where they work and beyond. LinkedIn’s algorithm did the rest, ensuring the subject was immediately trending. The campaign got major attention and started a big discussion – not only in the thousands of shares and comments online and in the news but even in Parliament.

Women are underrepresented in top positions. We researched data from all the listed companies in the Netherlands and discovered that there are even more CEOs named Peter than female CEOs. This insight was the starting point of the LinkedIn campaign. You can easily change your name on LinkedIn, so we decided to make use of this social platform to raise awareness about this inequality. And because it is a business platform, we were directly reaching our target audience: People working at businesses and companies. From our network, we contacted multiple influential women from different backgrounds who all participated for free. With the call to action to change your name to Peter, they mobilized thousands of women to change their names as well as spread awareness about gender inequality. LinkedIn’s algorithm did the rest, spreading our message to millions of people and ensuring the subject was trending.

To launch our initiative, we needed perfect timing. We started off by contacting multiple influential women and asked them to participate. They were featured in our PR video that highlighted the issue and asked women to change their name for one week. The video was sent in a newsletter to hundreds of women. On our platform, they could find more information and download a toolkit with a PR image and copy to post on LinkedIn. On the day we went live, a press release was sent to all news media. Everyone changed their names at the same time, ensuring that everyone’s timeline was full of Peters. The campaign immediately grabbed a lot of attention. Whether you looked at LinkedIn or watched the news, Peters were everywhere. Underneath every post, people were discussing the subject or posting their support. Mission accomplished.

My name is Peter received major attention. Several women from Parliament endorsed our initiative, sparking a national discussion. Men also joined the conversation, changing their names to Petra – the feminine form of Peter – in solidarity with women. Even Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands participated and spoke up about the issue. My name is Peter was covered by every news outlet on TV, newspapers, business sites and fashion blogs.The campaign reached over 50% of the Dutch population (+9 million reach in the Netherlands alone). We got +93 million impressions and +100 news articles were written.We accomplished this with zero media budget. The campaign quickly spread to other countries and made headlines there. Other women’s rights organizations adopted the campaign. In Norway it was even endorsed by former prime minister Erna Solberg. One simple name change got the public talking and brought attention to the disparity between men and women.