These ‘bittersweet’ treats show the extent of the gender gap

Romania has one of the worst gender gaps in Europe – and these edible pie charts show just how bad the problem is.

The Bucharest offices of MRM/McCann teamed up with bakery Paul to raise awareness of Romania’s gender pay gap. The ad agency dreamt up the stunt after the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2015 placed Romania 77th out of 145 economies.

The Misrepresentation Cake

The project created a number of thought-provoking confections, including the ‘Startup Exclusion Cake’, which shows that only 13% of Romanian entrepreneurs are women, and the ‘Misrepresentation Cake’, which highlights that 88% of Romania’s parliamentarians are men. The ‘Extremely Rich Cake’ points out that just one of Romania’s 25 wealthiest individuals is a woman.

These ‘bittersweet’ pie charts are an inventive way of generating conversation around the issue of gender inequality. It’s not the first time that cakes have been used to highlight the battle for equality – a University of Queensland bake sale caused controversy earlier this year amid claims of discrimination.

As the Gender Gap report highlights, significant work remains to close this gap around the world. Indeed, the gap has only closed by 4% since 2006. At this rate, it will be another 118 years before we get to gender equality.

Have you read?

The Global Gender Gap Report 2015

The Global Gender Gap Report in numbers

Which European countries have the biggest gender pay gaps?