Taking a stance for gender equality

8th March 2019

Something’s changed!

If you’ve been over to our website recently, you may have noticed our iconic Join the Republic fist icon has changed. In an effort to become more transparent and socially and environmentally conscious, we’ve been reassessing everything we do here at Studio Republic. You may have seen our 2018/19 Sustainability Report, our up and coming Hack For Good event or our recent work with charity clients to help them achieve their goals.

Part of this reassessment brought us to notice that our simple, yet well-loved icon isn’t the most inclusive - and we wanted to change that. In recent months, we’ve refreshed our policies on equal opportunities and whistleblowing, and have always supported gender equality movements - our team here is currently 31% female, and we support our female team members just as much as we support people of all genders. At SR, we hire based on merit, and aren’t swayed by matters of sexuality, gender or race. We simply want to find good people who want to do some good work in the world. It’s as simple as that.

"We’re stronger, have a louder voice and have greater impact when we work together. Let’s all be creative, for good." Jack & Chris

It was therefore a no brainer to include a gender neutral fist icon to accompany the masculine original. Part of our skills as a studio is to understand and consider all people - without this understanding we’d not be very good marketeers, brand strategists or UX designers now would we?


Can an icon really make a difference?

It may seem like a small change to some, but it’s certainly a powerful one. It can be so easy to overlook something as simple as an icon and its effect on the wider public, especially when we think about inclusion. Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the face value of something, rather than taking the time to really sit down and assess all perspectives and potential outcomes. We’re human after all. So when we reviewed our site and spent time looking at its elements, we realised the original icon didn’t reflect our values in the way that we wanted it to.

We care a lot about diversity and inclusivity at work here at Studio Republic, and we all do our part (in both our personal and professional lives) to make a change. Rebecca, our Operations Director, has taken the Good Life Goal of Be Fair as her personal target and she regularly supports her local Parish Council and helps run a Community Cinema event. We all have the opportunity to give our time to causes, communities and charities that have importance to us.

So, in light of International Women’s Day 2019, we wanted to make a change. Still keeping our original “male” fist icon to reference the beginning of our journey and to represent the men within our team, we’ve also added a gender neutral fist to ensure all genders are embraced, and no person is left behind.

We are a republic defined by the good that we contribute in the world, not on how we identify.