• With the addition of AXA, Hallenstadion Zurich, Merck, Ticketcorner and Smart, EqualVoice United has increased its membership to a total of almost 20 companies.
• At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the EqualVoice Initiative presented the white paper “Inclusive Language and Images” together with the IMD – International Institute for Management Development. 
• The visibility of women in the media brands of Ringier Hungary, Ringier Romania, Ringier Serbia and Ringier Slovakia was analyzed for the first time in 2023 using the EqualVoice Factor.

With the addition of AXA Insurance, Zurich’s Hallenstadion, the science and technology company Merck, the ticket provider Ticketcorner and the car company Smart, the EqualVoice United network, which was launched in 2022 in line with the fifth of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has grown to a total of 18 partner companies. The network is committed to greater gender equality in the Swiss economy.

Annabella Bassler, CFO Ringier AG and initiator of EqualVoice: “I am delighted that we have been able to win five more major Swiss companies for EqualVoice United. The EqualVoice United charter includes embedding equal opportunities and equality, promoting a mentality of equality and integration, communicating the benefits of equality for other companies and for society, and creating modern working conditions for all employees. All partners benefit from insights into gender equality in various sectors of the economy. The members of EqualVoice United inspire each other to achieve gender equality and the advancement of women in their companies”.

EqualVoice at the World Economic Forum

The EqualVoice initiative was represented at two events at the World Economic Forum (WEF) this year. Together with Dr. Heather Cairns-Lee and Dr. Alexander Fleischmann from the “IMD – International Institute for Management Development”, Dr. Annabella Bassler, CFO of Ringier AG and initiator of EqualVoice, presented the white paper “Inclusive Language and Images“. It sheds light on how language and images in the media shape prejudices about working life and individual perceptions and highlights the need to talk about diversity, equity and inclusion  in turbulent times. The role of microaggressions – subtle comments and gestures that create an exclusionary environment – is also addressed. Based on surveys and best practices, recommendations are made for creating an inclusive culture through language and images.

Upon the invitation of the World Women Foundation, Annabella Bassler took part in a panel discussion that dealt with women’s rights, democracy and media freedom as an inseparable unit: if one of these rights is weakened, it has an impact on all the others. Moderated by Aleksandra Karasińska, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Women in Poland, Saudi women’s rights activist Mona Abu Sulayman, Moira Forbes, President and Publisher of ForbesWoman, Lalita Taylor, Executive Producer, Academy Fusion Project at the BBC, Diane Brady, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Forbes, Maneet Ahuja, Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Iconoclast at Forbes, and Annabella Bassler exchanged views on how to promote and protect gender equality and media freedom.

(Stream the panel)

Development of the EqualVoice Factor in 2023

As an international media company, the Ringier Group is committed to gender equality with the EqualVoice initiative launched in 2019. The EqualVoice Factor is now used by 32 titles in seven countries with a reach of around 50 million people, including Switzerland, Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. The EqualVoice Factor uses a semantic algorithm to determine the ratio of men and women in images, texts and videos in the articles of the participating media brands.

Teaser Score Online

Online, the Teaser Score developed unevenly. The digital edition of Handelszeitung recorded the largest increase in teaser score with 3.5 percentage points, while Blick.ch gained 1.7 percentage points in German-speaking Switzerland. The biggest decline was recorded by the German digital edition of GaultMillau (-5.1 percentage points) and the financial portal cash.ch (-3.3 percentage points). The digital editions of Beobachter, Schweizer Illustrierte, L’illustré and LandLiebe achieved an almost balanced Teaser Score.

Teaser Score Print

In 2023, in addition to the print editions of Beobachter, Bilanz, Blick, Handelszeitung, Schweizer Illustrierte, TELE and Glückspost, those of LandLiebe, L’illustré and SonntagsBlick were also evaluated. 

Encouragingly, the so-called Teaser Score, which measures the visibility of women in images, headlines and titles, rose for all publications measured for the second time. Glückspost recorded the strongest growth with 17.1 percentage points. The Beobachter gained 10 percentage points to 38.0 percent, while Bilanz reached just under 30 percent with an increase of 9.4 percentage points.

In 2023, the EqualVoice Factor was assessed for the first time in Ringier titles in Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Slovakia. The Hungarian lifestyle media Glamour.hu, Egeszsegkalauz, Kiskegyed and Ruzs achieved top scores of between 51.1 and 74.6 percent. The Hungarian daily newspaper Blikk achieved a score of 36.8 percent. In Romania, the lifestyle platform unica.ro achieved 61.7 percent and the daily newspaper Libertatea 34.0 percent. In Serbia, the lifestyle platforms zena.rs with 65.9 percent and pulsonline.rs with 63.5 percent also have a very high teaser score, while the daily newspaper Blic achieves 40.9 percent. Similar results come from Slovakia, where the lifestyle platforms diva.sk scored 74.6 percent and najmama.sk 61.5 percent. The news platform Aktuality.sk leveled off at 30.2 percent. The tech platforms zive.sk and hernazona.sk achieved lower scores of 21.4 percent and 20.1 percent respectively due to the nature of their topics.

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