#RedrawTheBalance was created to shed light on gender inequality and inspire children by exposing them to more female role models. We launched with a social experiment that showed how early gender bias starts.

But there was more to be done. We needed to tackle the source of this gender bias.

In animated films, where children find their first heroes, only 29% of characters are women. When there are women in them, they’re usually a sidekick or a damsel in distress.

So we came up with inspiring female characters with the help of female artists from all over the world, and promoted them through posters and trailers.

We also developed worksheets and an avatar maker that encouraged everyone to support the campaign by representing themselves in different inspiring professions.

The launch film was released online and relied on its viral quality. In the first two months, it reached over 20 million people and became news in over 80 countries. It was followed up by animated characters promoted through trailers and posters. The campaign appeared in major publications and 100 digital outdoor sites around the UK on International Women’s Day. We developed worksheets for schools and an avatar maker that encouraged everyone to support the campaign by representing themselves in different inspiring professions. Parents, teachers, artists, and other influential people became advocates of #RedrawTheBalance and directed traffic to the Inspiring Girls website.

The campaign became news in over 80 countries, and was shared by institutions and influential people like Emma Watson, Geena Davis, and Sir Ken Robinson to name a few. The animated characters appeared in publications like The Guardian, The Evening Standard, Timeout and Metro, earning a total of £7m worth of media and reaching 8.2 million people. The posters appeared in 100 digital sites on International Women’s Day across the UK, delivering 727,757 impressions. The traffic to site also increased by 42%, with an average of 56% increase in followers on all social media accounts.

The campaign has also inspired further research by the NHS in the UK, and has been recreated by the United Nations, as well as schools and homes all over the world.