McDonald's is flipping its iconic arches upside down again for International Women's Day
- McDonald's is flipping its golden arches again on Friday to celebrate International Women's Day.
- The fast-food company and many executives changed their profile pictures to an image of upside-down arches on Friday to celebrate the launch of the company's new "Better Together: Gender Balance & Diversity" strategy.
- Last year, McDonald's faced backlash when it flipped its iconic golden arches from an "M" to a "W" to celebrate International Women's Day.
- "While we received some backlash, this moment helped to grow the conversation internally," a McDonald's representative told Business Insider.
McDonald's is once again flipping its iconic arches for International Women's Day.
Last year, the fast-food chain flipped its arches from an "M" to a "W" on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for International Women's Day 2018. The upside-down arches - intended as a "celebration of women everywhere" -were also flipped at a McDonald's location in Lynwood, California.
The move sparked backlash, with some people feeling that McDonald's missed the point of International Women's Day and others saying the move felt like a story from the satirical outlet The Onion.
This year, McDonald's is turning the golden arches upside down yet again.
On Friday, McDonald's and a number of executives on LinkedIn changed their profile pictures to an image of flipped arches with the hashtag "#BetterTogether."
"In 2018, we flipped our hallmark Golden Arches to acknowledge and honor the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere and especially in our restaurants," Lauren Altmin, a representative for McDonald's, told Business Insider in an email.
"While we received some backlash, this moment helped to grow the conversation internally and over the last year we've continued to reflect on what it means to not just say thank you, but to create a business environment where the full diversity of women feel recognized, represented and can advance in their careers without fear of bias," Altmin continued.
With 2019's golden-arches flip, McDonald's hopes to raise awareness of unconscious bias and the importance of workplace inclusion. McDonald's additionally announced the launch of a new "Better Together: Gender Balance & Diversity" strategy on Friday.
The company has pledged to improve the representation of women, enhance career advancement opportunities for all employees, and work with franchisees and suppliers to progress on gender balance globally by 2023.
Currently, women occupy 30% of officer positions and 41% of staff positions at director level and above at McDonald's. 60% of McDonald's restaurant managers are women.
"Key actions McDonald's will take to further improve representation and progression include: using gender neutral job-descriptions in English speaking countries for office and restaurant roles, increasing diverse candidate slates and interview panels, as well as investing in tools that use artificial intelligence to recognize and root out bias from the selection process," McDonald's said in a press release.
The chain is also rolling out a program that allows women to learn tech-related skills through its education and tuition-assistance program.