Where are all the women?

Meet Jenny.

She's 39, married. Has a 12 year-old daughter. She lives in the suburbs of a medium-sized city and commutes 25 minutes to the call center she works in. She went to college for a few years, but never graduated. She and her husband bought their house together almost 10 years ago. They make $48,000 annually and spend $1200 of it on fun gadgets and technology. They go on a week-long vacation every summer. Jenny makes weekly and seasonal purchases for herself, her daughter and her husband. She's the primary shopper and controller of the family checkbook.
She likes to read best sellers. Is close with her sister. Has a few friends, but would like to have more. She goes to church on Sundays and watches TV at night. She wishes she had more free time.

Jenny is America's average consumer.

Here, my fellow advertisers, is why I bring this up:

I was recently at a download session for a new business pitch. The potential client invited four agencies to learn about their marketing & business environment, customers and history.

My boss, our CCO and I attended, along with 2 or 3 heavy hitters from each of the other agencies.

The client brought a variety of brand managers from their side. And, I couldn't help but quickly notice something:

In the room overall:

11 men, 5 women.

From the agencies: 

9 men, 1 woman (me.)

I've* actually noticed this in a number of pitch processes and I'm always struck by the fact that there are so few women at the senior, strategic level of advertising. Despite the fact that the majority of consumer purchases are made by women** and - to all appearances - the plurality of corporate marketers are women.

So, here are my questions to the community:

1. Do you think there's any understanding of the customer lost / simplified / overlooked by such a low representation of the primary buying gender in top-level advertising? (Or: Could it lead to a more accurate portrayal by avoiding the "focus group of one" phenomena?)
2. Do you think there is a new business strategic advantage for an agency that does have women in leadership?
3. Where do all the women go? The entry level positions in advertising seem to be flooded with them ... but, they rarely make it to the executive suite.

*The agency I work for has a number of women who attend most pitches - one of our VPs, two of our management supervisors, our director of account planning and our online media planner are frequently involved in new business

**I assume that the "80% of consumer purchases are made by women" statistic that is so often referenced is inaccurate for one key reason: it's reflective of a 100 year period. Many decades of which, women didn't work in any notable numbers & thus would naturally be the runners of all household errands. Nonetheless, there is much evidence to indicate that purchasing is heavily weighted toward women consumers - as both end purchasers and gatekeepers.

Comments

[Kelly]

Why aren't more women in higher positions? Because men are in control of putting them there. I am currently the only female creative at the agency and my boss has told me he believes women can't make it in the industry. I've heard him also refer to a woman who was pursueing a promotion as stuck, because she will never go anywhere in the mans world. When she did get it, he called her underqualified and manipulative. It's sad really, you start you career as a intelligent, confident and talented woman and from that point on you're beaten down and convienced you will always be second best, regardless of the work you do. I was also in the room when a new (male) junior creative was hired, he was given the same salary as me after three years here. I was told that when I compare my salaries to others, I should consider sex. I still cant' figure out why that means anything. So, I have two questions for you. What agency do you work for and do you need a good writer?

[Mk Descodificado]

Couldn't agree more with you. Great post.

[UnluckyCat]

Where are all the women? Well, they're routinely overlooked and systematically held back until they find a new position in a new company where they can actually USE their skills.

Least that's was the case in all the agencies I worked for.

[brandie stephan]

Yes, not having enough female leadership on a marketing team leads to terrible commercials like this one for an at home pregnancy test. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqX7VxW3wL0

You can just picture all the men in the boardroom laughing and giving each other high-fives, the women are cringing from the bathroom humor.

[neilperkin]

I'm a rarity in that I work in an environment (magazine publishing) where the majority of senior staff are female. My view:
1. Yes
2. Definitely, yes
3. Don't know

Good point and a good post

[Gitti]

I've asked myself, and others, that same question. In my country, the Dominican Republic, you rarely see women in very senior positions, except in client service departments. I think, right now, I may be the only creative director (of course we're talking about a small market with, at most, 10 big agencies). It's true also that entry-level positions, in all areas, are flooded with women but they seem to fade away with the years. I have no answers just theories.

[Jamey Shiels]

Very interesting discussion.

1. If the agency does their home work and truly tries to identify and understand the consumer, there shouldn't be a loss of understanding. Does that mean that's always the case, probably not. Look at some of the marketing that you see and it's obvious more is lost than saved. The challenge is to the agency. To be a true partner to a client, we have to understand and know her, the consumer.

2. Good agencies have good people regardless of gender. If you were to query companies in the market for an agency, the first two things they look to are your work and your peopl and their expertise and proven skills. Our new business VP does an excellent job in presenting and engaging. Fact is she's a woman, but her skills are what gets the job done.

3. I think Andy's point on #3 is true. Maybe not fair, but true. The pressure to find balance in career or family is unfair to women because of the worldview at this time.

Thanks for generating an interesting conversation.

[Jamey Shiels]

Very interesting discussion.

1. If the agency does their home work and truly tries to identify and understand the consumer, there shouldn't be a loss of understanding. Does that mean that's always the case, probably not. Look at some of the marketing that you see and it's obvious more is lost than saved. The challenge is to the agency. To be a true partner to a client, we have to understand and know her, the consumer.

2. Good agencies have good people regardless of gender. If you were to query companies in the market for an agency, the first two things they look to are your work and your peopl and their expertise and proven skills. Our new business VP does an excellent job in presenting and engaging. Fact is she's a woman, but her skills are what gets the job done.

3. I think Andy's point on #3 is true. Maybe not fair, but true. The pressure to find balance in career or family is unfair to women because of the worldview at this time.

Thanks for generating an interesting conversation.

[Andy Didyk]

Great topic. Here are my thoughts:

1. Absolutely something is lost, but the impact of that depends of the ultimate business objectives of the campaign. If you have solid data that suggests that a particular product is primarily purchased by / influenced by women, as opposed to a generalization that most products are, you can bet that I would purposefully seek out women to be on my team for that initiative.

2. There is a business advantage for any agency that has talented people in their leadership positions. As far as gender-specific advantages are concerned, I'm not convinced that simply by adding someone of a particular gender to a leadership team that an advantage is automatically gained. I know plenty of smart people (of both genders) who come up with brilliant marketing campaigns because they've done research and can think on their feet, even if they themselves don't belong to the target audience. That being said, it's necessary to gain the perspective of that audience regardless of leadership.

3. Where have all of the women gone? Well, I'm not a woman, but I have talked to many who fall into the critiera you listed for the "typical consumer". My thought would be that in addition to the unfortunate, lingering fallout of the male-dominated business era, women today face a crisis of identity that is difficult to overcome. Traditional values still hold sway with many, while progress in the women's movement (while fantastic and very good overall) seems to pull in opposite directions at times. Stay at home, or career? Assertive or empathetic? Climb to the top of the ladder, or keep life balanced to enjoy family and work? Trying to do it all seems like a difficult position to put oneself in (like taking on two full-time jobs and expecting to be good at both).

Please don't read anything misogynistic into these thoughts...I'm merely taking a stab at answering your very pertinent question. The previous agency I worked at had a 50/50 male to female ratio, and it was very successful and a great place to work. I'm interested to see what others think about his issue.

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