As a part of its effort to increase accurate portrayals of women and girls across all media by 2020, #SeeHer has created the #WriteHerRight writers guide. Initially geared toward screenwriters, the guide is full of useful tips for content and ad copywriters. Start with these four questions.

1. 4 QUESTIONS
TO ASK YOURSELF
WHEN WRITING
FEMALE CHARACTERS
FOR YOUR CONTENT

2. In 2016, the ANA launched a new initiative to reshape the
American media landscape. Called #SeeHer, the campaign was
created to increase accurate portrayals of women and girls in
U.S. media and advertising by 20 percent by 2020.
As a part of this effort, #SeeHer created the #WriteHerRight
guide to give writers of all kinds tips for how to better portray
their female characters. Here, we review four questions from
the #WriteHerRight guide that can be applied to any type of
marketing content — from traditional ads to modern content.

3. Do any of these words describe your female
characters’ personality attributes: strong,
intelligent, ambitious, charismatic, creative,
reliable, successful, courageous, or confident?
1
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4. Gone are the days of portraying female characters as doting, subservient,
submissive, second-class citizens. The characters you write need to demonstrate
a full range of qualities, including those listed in our first question.
4© Copyright 2018 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. Could your content pass the Bechdel test?
2
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6. The Bechdel test is a simple and well-known way to evaluate how well you’re
portraying women in your content.
Ask yourself one question: Does your content feature female characters talking
about something other than a man? That’s it!
If the answer is yes, you pass this test, and are ahead of the curve.
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7. Are your female characters in leadership positions
or in careers from science and technology fields?
3
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8. The whole idea of our #SeeHer campaign is to give young girls the opportunity
to see a broader, more ambitious future for themselves. Women are just
as capable as men of being leaders, being scientists, or working in another
STEM field. Your content needs to reflect this reality.
8© Copyright 2018 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. All rights reserved.

9. If you removed all of your female
characters from the story, would
it be inconsequential to the plot?
4
9© Copyright 2018 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. If you can remove any character from your content without it fundamentally
impacting the narrative, that character is underdeveloped. Writers and content
creators must work to ensure all of their characters are dynamic, but especially
women and girl characters, who are so often overlooked.
10© Copyright 2018 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. All rights reserved.

11. Want more insights into how you can portray
women and girls accurately in media?
Visit the #SeeHer website to learn more.
#SeeHer