Responses by Catherine St Laurent, director of brand and special initiatives, Pivotal Ventures.

Background: The site is a central point of information, inspiration and action for Equality Can’t Wait, a campaign developed by Pivotal Ventures, the investment and incubation company Melinda Gates created to help accelerate social progress in the United States. The World Economic Forum projects that, at the current rate, it will take 208 years for the United States to reach gender equality. Equality Can’t Wait is a call to action to start new conversations, create a sense of urgency and to encourage all Americans to contribute to making equality happen in our lifetimes. The campaign targets a broad audience, including people who aren’t tuned into the issue now.

Other campaign elements: Long- and short-form videos featuring A-list comedians doing stand-up routines about the absurdity of the 208-year projection. A series, called Equal Mics, in which Margaret Cho, Natasha Rothwell, Maya Rudolf and Sarah Silverman take the comedy club stage with Melinda Gates to roast the 208 number and highlight some of the factors behind it; the videos and Equal Mics were directed by Natasha Lyonne through Lauren Greenfield’s production company, Girl Culture. A video from Vox Media that breaks down the 208-year projection and how to shorten it. Activations on social media.

Core design: The site aims to help people see how they can take action in their own lives to shorten the timeline toward gender equality in the United States, whether it’s through conversations in their own households and workplaces, through volunteering their time, or through supporting organizations working to accelerate progress. In addition to hosting the launch film, the site breaks down the data behind the World Economic Forum’s projection.

Navigation structure: The Equality Can’t Wait web presence lives on Evoke, an online community hosted by Melinda Gates. Evoke is a place to start conversations, amplify new voices and forge stronger bonds between changemakers. This enables visitors to explore Equality Can’t Wait and dive deeper into Evoke content about key issues like caregiving, paid family and medical leave, and increasing the representation of women and people of color in the tech sector.