Léa Lejeune, feminism washing expert

This is the third episode of our DE&I series. In these conversations, we want to explore issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and our hope is that these help build a world in which people from all backgrounds and with different views can thrive. Our aim with these series is to chat with inspirational guests who can encourage us all to look at the industries we work in (media, comms and tech) from different perspectives. 

Our guest for this episode is Léa Lejeune, a French business journalist engaged in topics around equality. Léa recently left a leading business title in France to launch her own media outlet called Plan Cash, where she aims to educate and raise awareness on financial management targeting a female audience. She has also just published a book on what she calls “feminism washing”, “Féminisme Washing: Quand les entreprises récupèrent la cause des femmes”. 

In this interview hosted by Tyto’s Shamina Peerboccus, Léa summarises some of the main aspects of her book, such as what "feminism washing" really is. She also gives concrete examples of this practice from large multinationals such as Dior, Amazon Web Services, McDonald's, IBM and BNP Paribas. But Léa also talks about the progress that is being made to achieve equality and points to the case of L'Oréal in France as an example to follow. If you are interested in how to improve equality in your company, Léa also provides tips on practices and policies that can be implemented. Finally, Léa shares her motivation for leaving her job to create her own media, Plan Cash, which is currently a newsletter and will soon also be a podcast. 

You can watch the recording on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/iWXvxKPRbu0