As I sift through the archives of this blog, there seems to be one glaring question at the root of many, many posts:
Why aren't there more women in advertising?
There are variations such as, "Why are there more guys than gals in advertising," or "Why don't more women get hired into the industry?" It's all the same.
It's a good question.
More of a riddle really.
Here are some stabs at an answer, pulled from the Boards Questioning the Status Quo panel, posted here on Sept. 27, 2006:
While Janet Kestin stuck her neck out to firmly state “I think fewer [women] are getting hired in the first place, and I don’t think it has to do with the portfolios. It’s a case of like hiring like. Odds are stacked against [women] because there are fewer women doing the hiring.”
Nancy Axthelm offered that there’s a possibility “people are compartmentalized and then foster and create like-minded people.” Perhaps this is not an issue of who’s to blame, but how to change the silo-ing.
Ethel Rubinstein added that “as far as agencies go, I think until they realize they aren’t getting the best talent – if & when it becomes in their self-interest – then they’ll start taking notice.”
Rubinstein's quote stings a bit. "Until they realize they aren't getting the best talent..." Let's talk about that later.
The question remains: Why aren't there more women in advertising?
Let's clarify a bit.
There seems to be plenty of women in advertising.
In some agencies, there are even more women than men.
More in design.
More in account.
More in traffic.
More in planning.
More in print production.
More in production.
Less in the creative department.
Ahhh.
Instead of "Why aren't there more women in advertising," the actual question is "Why aren't there more women in the creative department?"
It could be like hiring like, as Kestin points out.
Can it be boiled down to one answer, where a gender is clearly hiring against the other gender based only on gender?
I hope not.
It seems odd though.
That if a CD were presented with equal caliber books, one a man's and one a woman's, the CD would hire based on gender? As in, I'm a man so I'll hire this guy because I'm comfortable talking to him about sports and big blocks. Or, I'm a woman so I'll hire the woman to give her a chance in the industry.
Maybe this is a question directed more towards the CD's that do the hiring.
I'll follow it up with this one:
Does your agency receive equal number of books from men and women?
Perhaps it is still a boy's club.
Who knows.
But if hiring really has nothing to do with a person's book or character, then damn.
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