Dutch women change their name to Peter on LinkedIn to protest lack of diversity
Last week, hundreds of women in the Netherlands changed their name to Peter on LinkedIn in order to raise awareness about the lack of diversity in Dutch companies.
Women’s Inc worked with agency The Family Amsterdam on the campaign
Recent studies discovered that there are more men named Peter in chief executive positions than there are women chief execs. Two studies, one conducted by the AD and research agency Equilap and another carried out by interest group Women Inc, found that, out of 93 surveyed companies in the Netherlands, there were five company directors named Peter. Meanwhile, there were only four women taking on the same job.
To make their point, upwards of 500 women have changed their name to Peter on LinkedIn as part of the #MijnNaamIsPeter campaign, including high-profile figures in the media and marketing industries, such as Yeliz Çiçek, editor-in-chief at Vogue Nederland.
Women Inc, the organization behind the stunt, explains that “‘Peter’ represents a greater lack of diversity in the workplace, not only in terms of gender, but also in terms of background and age. And that lack is not only at the top or only in large companies.”
The campaign was launched as a new Dutch law came into effect that will now see mandates on large companies to hire more women in senior leadership positions.
