ENGIE Launches Campaign to Boost Discussion about Gender Inequity in Sports

Jul. 05, 2024

Aiming to draw attention to all kinds of prejudice and the need of democratizing opportunities to both men and women on tennis courts and in everyday life, ENGIE, the French leading renewable energy company, has launched "The Weight of Inequity", a campaign that presents a racket 20 times heavier than the one used in matches.

The piece, conceived by ASIA, ENGIE's advertising agency, features words such as "misogyny," "intolerance," "lower visibility," and "inequity," among others, which refer to issues faced by female athletes in the daily life of sport.

Gil Maranhão, Director of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility at ENGIE Brazil said:

"As a traditional tennis sponsor in Brazil, Engie realizes that the challenge for female tennis players goes far beyond the courts. That's why we decided to create this campaign and raise a debate about gender inequity in sports. Within the company, we promote female inclusion in a daily basis and have a global goal of achieving gender parity in leadership positions by 2030."

 

The racket was displayed at the entrance of the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup, the premier international team competition in women's tennis, which honored one of the greatest athletes of all time, American Billie Jean King, now 80 years old. The athlete began challenging gender-based dress codes in the 1950s and became one of the pioneers in the fight for equal prize money in sporting competitions. The campaign featured the participation of athletes Bia Haddad, Carol Meligeni, Laura Pigossi, Ingrid Martins, and Luisa Stefani, some of the biggest names in tennis in Brazil.

Tennis player Carol Meligeni said:

"The campaign is really impactful and I'm very happy to have my image associated with a company like ENGIE, which cares about such relevant issues as gender inequity in sports. The words written around the racket are very strong and heavy, which reflect the burden we women have to face all the time, not only in sports. The campaign gave us the opportunity to talk a little more about our experiences as women, related to those words."