Stereotypical gender roles are turned on their heads in a new video, which documents what life would be like if male and female positions in society were reversed – giving women all the power, while men take on a more subservient role.
The video, created by beauty brand Sally Hansen, features nine of today’s most powerful female leaders in fashion, sports and business – and portrays an imaginary world – named ‘Shetopia’ – where women hold the reigns of power, have higher pay than men, play sports on the same teams as their male counterparts, and breastfeed in public without stigma.
The campaign is a part of the company’s attempt to empower ‘a world made by and for self-made women’, and sees the powerful females in society still striving for equality and fairness, despite their positions of authority above men.
Let’s get in formation! A new video which flips gender roles stars powerful female activists like Claire Wasserman, founder of the organization Ladies Get Paid
Flexin’: The video, created by Sally Hansen, charts life in ‘Shetopia’, where women have all the power and can do what they want without judgement – including working out while pregnant
Hot seat! Retail bargain hunter Gina Ybarra is shown maintaining a cool, calm and collected appearance as she dominated a male-centric company lunch
Check, please! In fact when the check rolls around she has no trouble dropping $100 bills – which display Sally Hansen rather than a Founding Father – to pay for the meal
The video begins with a woman in the midst of a workout grind, lifting a heavy iron weight bar triumphantly. When she drops it and walks away her pregnant belly is revealed to the camera to the beat of dramatic music.
The scene then changes into a press conference room, with Claire Wasserman, the real life founder of Ladies Get Paid, in a smart white suit standing at the lectern.
A reporter, played by blogger-turned-CEO Jacklyn Johnson asks, ‘How do you plan to deal with the issue of equal pay for men?’
‘I won’t stop until men get equal pay,’ Claire declares and the media erupts in a buzz of photographs and questions.
The scene then changes to a business lunch where ringleader Gina Ybarra, founder of website Hunt for Styles, sits in a colorful floral dress, surrounded by men in suits.
When the check arrives at the table she elegantly and confidently takes the bill and places wads of 100 dollar bills on the check to cover the table’s costs, proving a woman can take care of themselves and more.
After a beat, it is revealed that the face on the bills swapped Benjamin Franklin for none other than business woman Sally Hanson’s vintage image herself.
No shame here: One woman breastfeeds her baby while out at lunch and no one around her berates her for today’s often controversial nurturing act
Breaking news: 62-year-old model Sarah Jane Adams sits between attorney pal Cynthia Andrew (right) and blogger Kate Sturino (left) as they read women-empowering headlines
Hard at work: The model sit outdoors in the clip and enjos a shoe shine and leg rub from a young man in a dramatic gender and age dynamic swap
Balcony romance: The following scene displays her showered with affection by a young man, proving that love is possible at any age
In a subsequent dinner scene a woman breast feeds her child out in the open at the comfort of her restaurant table. And no one flinches or objects.
International model Sarah Jane Adams, 62, then captures the scene as she sits at a shoe shine station. Her hair is vivid gray and white and her jacket dazzles in bright blue. Next to her sit attorney and blogger Cynthia Andrew and founder of The 12ish Style blog Katie Sturino.
Sarah reads a newspaper with the headline ‘Heroines over 50 rule the world’ while a young man rubs her legs with glow spray and she nods approvingly.
Next Sarah is transported to a romantic balcony, where she sits under an evening sky, accompanied by a young well dressed suitor who stands beside her and romantically tucks a flyaway curl behind her ear, showing that mature women are just as much of a catch as older men.
Female biker legend Jessica Haggett then rumbles through the streets clad in all black leather. Haggett, the real life founder of the largest all girl motorcycle group in the world, is accompanied in the video by a man who affectionately grips on to her from behind as she drives into the night.
‘In my Shetopia, there are just as many women on bikes as men,’ Jessica shares on the campaign’s website.
In a flash the video returns to the chaotic press conference,
‘We all know that the majority of childcare falls on the men, so we need to give them the appropriate amount of leave,’ Claire states.
Her real company Ladies Get Paid, on the other hand, advocates for women in the workforce on all issues from fair employment to equal compensation. She shares in the campaign that in her ideal world ‘equal pay is a reality, not an aspiration.’
Biker chic: Jessica Hagget, founder of the world’s largest women-exclusive biker group, sets off into the night and contrary to cliché she’s accompanied by a man who holds on behind her
Major score! Eniola Aluko not is not only a soccer sensation for Chelsea F.C. but she has a law degree that she uses off field in negotiating sport contracts
Down to business: Tech company CEO Angela Benton addresses her council when she’s suddenly cut off by a male colleague
Shh! But he’s quickly shushed by a sudden tense air and by disapproving looks from his workmates of both sexes around the table
A vibrant and bright evening soccer pitch then captures the scene, with the shouts of fans from the stadium roaring for the team. The star player is Eniola Aluko, a female footballer for Chelsea F.C. women’s team who is also a lawyer.
But in this game women and men play side by side and she scores an epic goal, to the cheering and back clapping of her supportive male teammates, something she shares is a dear hope.
‘In my Shetopia, girls and boys play together,’ she says for the campaign.
To close the woman-empowering clip, the camera transports watchers into a company meeting headed by CEO Angela Benton who crosses her hands and talks business – when she’s suddenly cut off by a male in women-dominated room.
But he’s quickly cut short after an exchange of glances, from women and men alike, and Angela, who in reality runs a successful tech company, then finishes her agenda.
Angela, the owner of Newme Accelorator, is all-too familiar with the gender-based obastacles in the business field and shares that in her ideal Shetopia world ‘there is no glass ceiling.’
The video ends with the challenge, ‘What’s your #Shetopia?’
The company credits their founder Sally Hanson as the self-made inspiration. The beauty entrepreneur after all started her company back in 1946 – a time where women weren’t given the agency to head their companies and business enterprises.
‘In this female paradise the planet has reached full gender equality; both women and men working together for a better world where no one is short-changed, undercut or cut-off,’ the video captions reads.
And the women who debut in the film make that agenda of an equal and fair world their top priority in their day to day lives.