What’s holding back women in creative? Creative network SheSays wants to know your thoughts
There’s been a lot of talk in recent months about women in creative: where do they go, why are they not rising up the ranks, does discrimination exist and what form does it take?
Now SheSays, the award winning global creative network for women, wants to find some answers. In partnership with analytics and research agency Anomaly and creative agency The Monkeys they have created a short survey that aims to discover experiences and opinions from across the industry. They want your thoughts, and are canvassing both women and men in the industry as well as those who have left or are aspiring to enter.
The survey can be found here and will take between 5-10 minutes to complete.
Says Siobhan Fitzgerald, project leader and creative at The Monkeys: “It’s one thing to talk about the lack of women in creative–it’s another thing to change it. Many agencies are looking to boost their ranks of female creatives and to do this they need to understand the barriers and issues that have to be overcome. This research is dedicated to understanding what holds women back so that agencies can address this to unlock the awesome female talent that
we know is out there.”
30 Comments
I’d be sending this survey out to senior clients as well.
In my experience, they have as much to do with this issue as anybody.
Oddly enough, especially the senior female clients.
A patriarchal society. This is the country where a woman is murdered every week.
I think this is a great initiative. Unfortunately I find the questionnaire perpetuates the stereotypes that “women are too sensitive”, “women can’t handle stress like men”, “women need to look after their kids” (and men don’t?). Instead of focusing on female stereotypes as the key issue driver, I suggest we should look at how agency culture, recruitment and development processes, flexibility policies and the like can be more inclusive of both men and women and more nuanced to support individual styles, needs and ways of working.
It’s because they’re all in the kitchen baby!
I agree with Ricci, I’m a female creative and I find those questions the exact problem we have in this industry. They are insulting questions and make me mad when I hear justification for women not being in creative as exactly those questions argg. I do appreciate having the questionare and them trying though too.
I don’t know…I think by asking those questions they’re trying to ascertain whether they’re a commonly-held belief or not (and consequentially whether those beliefs are where part of the problem lies). As ridiculous and horrifying as it is, some people actually believe that those are valid claims.
* I should clarify – I don’t think many women would hold those beliefs (nor would intelligent men), but the survey is for both genders.
100% agree with Ricci, it’s not about being a woman, it’s about how the advertising industry finds it acceptable to treat other people in general, no matter what gender. The way that people are allowed to talk to their colleagues within agencies is completely outrageous and would result in written warnings at the very least in other industries.
I agree with Female Creative. Those options are there for a reason. To see if anyone really thinks that crap.
* I should clarify – I don’t think many women would hold those beliefs (nor would intelligent men), but the survey is for both genders.
here
here
FYI, creatives, it’s actually “Hear! Hear!”. Google also tells me, rather poetically considering the context of this discussion, that it initially came from “Hear him! Hear him!”.
The questions aren’t going to get a genuine response and are too leading for a properly quantifiable research study.
I also find it quite childish in it’s tone, it feels set up to find a reason to beat male creatives over the head – and that will include the many males who founded the agencies who put dinner on our tables. Including The Monkeys.
Personally I don’t give a shit about the male / female creative ‘ratio’. Men are less bitchy so I prefer working with them. Aside from that, it’s about talent and you either got it or you don’t.
Why no outrage about the disparity of men/women in account management?
Never read an article about there being too many male bricklayers.
You missed the joke… It’s an echo.
When you echo the word ‘here’ it doesn’t change spelling to ‘hear’.
Typical client service. Always expecting the impossible.
In understand we’re all in Ads, but if you’re going to rant about equality be equal about it. Where are all the female plumbers? Electricians? Garbage ladies?
Maybe there are less women in Advertising because they figure out it’s not for them? Okay say there are “48% graduates or students are female”, okay, but maybe as a result of doing the courses they decide they made a mistake? In the same way males and the male brain are evolutionary hardwired to enjoy and be fulfilled by certain tasks or types of tasks. More male IT staff, more male construction workers. They probably flipping love it. Not many women actually really honestly LOVE that stuff. So MAYBE less women loooove advertising? Okay, so the ones that DO love it, can’t get ahead? Why? Same reason the female Site Forewoman on a major construction site isn’t respected? SO it’s about society overall, not about JUST advertising. You can’t solve equality for one industry alone and ignore all the others. The issues run deeper than the culture in Ads.
No other industry has its head so far up its own arse that it only sniffs around in one department.
Looking at the issue in micro terms is absurd.
For example, there are far more women in Client Service and PR than men.
So focusing on individual departments is a misnomer.
The true measure of any company’s gender equality, is the the macro / big picture: the total % of women/men across all staff.
If that is close to 50%, there really is no issue – except a fabricated micro one.
I bet it’s close to 50% in most agencies.
Let’s poll that?
No?
Not a big enough story?
I’ve done a quick survey of my own. 6 senior female creatives, not one has been interviewed for or offered a full time job since the whole Leo debacle came to light. All talk NO ACTION. I’m calling absolute BULLSHIT on agencies in this country trying to change the ratio. Misogyny is still very much alive and well in Australian advertising. Anyone who even tries to deny this has about as much credibility as George Pell at the Royal Commission today.
Across the agency is not the point. Last time I looked account service and production don’t actually write the ads. It’s about ads being CREATED by women. After all, that is actually as an industry what our end product is, in one form or another. Therefore if the majority of ads are written by men… I’m hoping you can figure the rest out for yourself.
Ads are not created only by Creative.
That’s an even more narrow perspective than focusing on one department to determine a whole industry’s gender bias.
Ads are created by a team. A team of which Creative are a part. There are also Client Service people, and PR people in that team – which are female dominant departments.
Without whom there’d be no clear briefs, no ads sold, no publicity… Need I go on?
Perhaps you’re not a team player?
40% of our Art Director/Copywriters are women. Counting our Designers it’s 50/50. Everyone wins with a more diverse work space, it’s a no brainer.
Come on.
Lots of people contribute to briefs getting in the door and work getting out the door, but last time I looked good ads were created by creatives, not committees. You can’t sell something to the client that doesn’t exist. Nor can you PR it. We are talking about creative departments. Perhaps you have trouble staying on topic?
Come on.
We need recruiters who champion female creatives, especially those who are mums and seeking flexible working arrangements. Too often recruiters see part-timers and mums as too hard to sell in, and don’t even suggest them as potential candidates.
Your comment is basically the same as saying “well it doesn’t matter that there are no female DOCTORS in hospitals because there are plenty of female nurses, janitors and catering staff… nobody should complain that there are no female doctors – it’s about numbers across the whole hospital.” Nobody would ever say this, now would they?
Your comment is basically the same as saying Creatives are the most important people in the agency. Wow.
Can I quantify your survey please?
Now, I’m assuming here – those women were from Sydney, right?
And those women expected someone to just drop them the chance to be interviewed because, well, Sydney yes?
Did the women apply for a job at all?
Or did they sit in their lounge rooms waiting to be interviewed?
The reason I’m bringing Sydney into it, is we have (and I’ll include many people from outside of Sydney who now live here) a ratio of 90% self-entitled wankers vs 10% of people who really get shit done and do good work.
And they are the people who are interviewed. The ones doing good work, not the ones sitting by the phone in their PJ’s going ‘the whole freaking system is wrong and it’s all somebody else’s fault!’
Get with it.
Get professional.
Get employable.
Then you won’t be whinging.
Number one tip if you’re looking for a job?
Be employable.
That’s it. Be better than the next one. Be more awarded. Show up earlier. Go home later. Be nicer. Be more talented. Be more connected.
If you blame your private parts for what’s holding you back, you seriously should look at another career option.
There are tonnes of fantastically talented women in our industry who got there off their own back, not because of some shit-house ‘quota’.
There are also very few men in the industry because somebody feels obliged to hire them. Zero, actually.
Get with it. Get better. It’s not your gender, it’s your skill-set. And if you are female and skilled, you actually have the advantage already.
Just ask the women who agencies feel ‘obliged’ to hire.
Sorry, but the last place that is a genuine meritocracy in advertising is surely the creative department?
There are no (extremely few) men in TV production.
There are extremely few men in account service.
There are virtually none in HR.
There no men in office management.
There are still plenty in IT. Well, who would want their job, I agree. Go girls.
But creative is the only department where ‘He just talks a bit funny’ or ‘Her hair is weird’ don’t apply. The creative department is the one part of the agency that isn’t a popularity contest. That isn’t about which school you went to, what race or gender you are or how cool / non-cool you are.
The creative department is 100% about talent.
Actually, I tell a lie. 99% about talent and 1% about selling it in / making it happen.
Guaranteed if you look around any creative department you’ll find a bunch of admittedly eccentric but super over-qualified individuals who are punching way about their weight.
Gender bias doesn’t come into it, just as class bias, personal hygiene bias or fashion bias doesn’t come into either.
The homogenisation of creativity and the creative department is our worst enemy.
That’s why the blandest agencies are usually terribly white / private schooled, full of popularity contestants, gender-balanced and terribly dull work is produced day-in day-out.