Diagnosing the Boys Club

More on the Get Interactive series later this week, but - true to my distracted nature - I'm going to wander off on another tangent right in the middle of it. And a fiery tangent at that. Let's kickoff this week by talking about gender.

Listening to Hillary Clinton's concession speech this weekend, I was glad to hear her finally speak frankly about the barriers that her candidacy had the opportunity break down. In perhaps her most memorable remark she talked about blazing a path for the women who will follow her:

Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.

It's interesting in a time when gender inequality is still such a prevalent experience, how little it's actually spoken about. Particularly in our industry. We are at once liberal and progressive. Yet, still, on average, paying women less than men for the same jobs. Giving them less access to true leadership. Packing new business teams with guys in suits. Shorting maternity leave. Etc. But, to talk about it ... no, it's unmentionable.

I have a theory on why.

Discrimination - and, I'm sorry, it's a tough word that lots of people have warned me against using, but it is what we're talking about - has become increasingly benign. So subconscious and blandly everyday that it's nearly impossible to work up the fervor to rally against.

The intent is simply not there. It's so built into our cultures that it goes un-talked about. Passed from one supervisor to the next. Insidious harm affably wrapped.

So what do you say we strip it down?

My girlfriends and I have worked at all kinds of agencies and companies. And for all kinds of bosses. Personally, I worked on the smoking floor of a converted factory for a 600-pound man deep in the Midwest AND in a gorgeous custom-designed loft space for one of the second city's leading lady power brokers. Our careers have taken us across the country and back. And, in them, we've found four key ways that men create "boys clubs."

Boys Club defined: Group of men whose routine and systematic actions - intended or circumstantial - limit the daily success and career potential of their female peers. These 'clubs' are not always culture-wide. They can exist in smaller teams or departments.

Four Ways to Diagnose a Possible Boys Club:

1. Access: Agencies tend to be social places. Ones where long lunches are had, golf is played, after-work drinks are enjoyed, etc. The challenge comes when those social outings are both open to men only AND are occasions when business is done.
   
   When everything from department structures to project plans are routinely being discussed in forums women don't have access to, it creates discrimination.
   
   Many women would go farther and say that just the fact of the social outings - business or no - is access-based discrimination because men have the opportunity to build personal relationships and different kinds of respect with agency leaders than women do. It's a fair argument in a business that is based so much on gut instinct and the belief that who you know = who you can trust.
   
   The key concepts here are routinely and systematically. It's not one guy taking two other guys out to lunch. It's a leader routinely socializing exclusively with the men on his team and systematically excluding women in the same / similar positions.


2. Stacking: One of my least favorite things to see is an "About our leaders" section of an agency Web site populated with 15 guys all wearing the same suit.
   
   It's common when talking about gender in an agency to mention what percentage of women work there - as in, women make up 45% of our staff. The trick is in asking - which 45%? Discrimination by stacking happens when the women on the team (routinely and systematically) hold only the lowest-ranking, lowest-paying spots. They're interns, assistants, entry levels. And the men (routinely and systematically) are the managers, supervisors and leaders. That's not equal hiring. At best, it's tokenism. At worst, it's evidence of a belief that women are less capable and have less value.


3. Communication: A woman we recently interviewed for our strategy group had previously worked at a very well-known regional school for girls. We asked her to make the elevator argument for single-gender education and one of the points she made was that women answer questions differently in class. Men tend to put their hands up right away and shoot from the hip. Women tend to think about it for ~12 seconds. They think conceptually, consider lots of different angles. Come to a conclusion.
   
   I loved that illustration because I've always thought that cultures that communicate by yelling, fighting and jocking for position are discriminatory, but I couldn't quite explain why. It's a more masculine way of communicating. One that rewards one gender-specific style over another one.
   
   This is a discrimination that is worse for the doer. You miss out on a lot of great ideas and insights by steamrolling over your peers. And on a lot of good partnerships by screaming at them.


4. Entertainment. Apparently it still has to be said. Emailing pornography. Making lists of the hottest women in the office. Talking about your peer's breasts or ass or propensity for, well, you know. Yeah, that's all wrong. It creates attitudes of disrespect and otherness in cultures that by-and-large already have enough problems.

I mention these things for a couple of reasons.

First, because - in general - I really don't believe the men who are part of these boys club cultures mean any harm. Meaning: If made aware of their behaviors, they may be predisposed to stop.

And, second, because while I've self-selected out of cultures like these, not everyone has or can - so, it's important to talk about. To keep challenging what's right and fair. Better than it used to be isn't enough.

Comments

[BlackCowboy]

Calling women "broads"(as the boys and I often do)is VASTLY DIFFERENT from dropping "N" bombs on us folk of colour.For one thing,I don't believe many women were lynched in the pre-Civil Rights U.S.,but THOU-
SANDS of African-American men were subject to such treatment,often capriciously.(Also,most feminists are
blatant racists;see Obama-Clinton U.S. Democratic
Party Presidential campaign,oh,and how many feminists have black husbands or boyfriends,not that we handsome black lads would grant a second look-or the FIRST if we can avoid it-to those fat,fugly,b***hy broads?)

[HighJive]

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[HighJive]

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[Joker]

Race and gender shall always be topics of discussion and sadly addressed mainly in rhetoric fashion since many people don't like to answer said questions or address certain issues.

For instance, I'm a late 20's Hispanic I try to be respectful and well mannered even if I am the human equivalent of a cuss factory. That being said, there are some situations worth mentioning of my experience stateside in predominantly white agencies.

1.) Why did an HR get tense every time I came into her office to ask something? I doubt it was attraction because for some reason it came off as if I was perceived as a threat... a sexual threat at that. Paranoia you might say? Possibly, but still, it always seemed like she got excessively tense with my presence.

2.) I don't know how many times I got the: "Is that a Hispanic thing?".

3.) Every time I spoke people asked why I didn't have an accent. I simply replied that all Hispanics are not "Tony Montana meng" and when I spoke accentless Spanish, they were just a tad more baffled.

And that's just being Hispanic. Black colleagues got endless amounts of pain over their race and coming from a blatantly heterogeneous culture, it took a while for me to get used to prejudice and racial bias... oh wait, I still don't get it. The same went for Asian friends of all countries (India, China, Japan, Korea and even Pakistan).

Then I have female friends who have faced the same situation on countless occasions. Talented, responsible women who get underpaid for the crass crime of having an XX chromosome, a pair of breast and a vagina. Do I understand this either? No. But I mainly don't understand prejudice and when you have to reduce any argument or situation to race, religion or gender, you're demonstrating why we fail to get along as a society.

Black people are just different. Hispanics are just different. White people are just different. Women are just different. Any of these statements could be true with enough discussion and the acquiesce of someone who doesn't want to recognize or shout that we can all donate blood to each other.

Regarding misogyny though, which is the topic initially illustrated, yeah, it exists and I think it's retarded, childish and ignorant. But those are the people that end up running our companies. Old white men who call women broads, savor the gin and tonic on their breath while ogling on a female employee's ass and wonder why Jeremy, Jack and Jose don't have a mop and bucket or simply go back to the brown or yellow country they came from. Ignorance is not bliss, it's just the way things are run by a lot of people but slowly but surely, there has been progress.

People, a white woman and a black man were competing for the democratic presidential nomination. That's the bare essential of it and though people can make a case that it was an elitist black man and a power hungry woman competing, it still doesn't change the fact that gender and race came second in this primary race.

Great post by the way.

Cheers

[Black Canseco]

It's always funny how "sexism" comes up with little or no mention of the hypocrisy regarding how WOC (Women of Color) are treated.

I'm a 17 year creative vet of the industry--midwest and east coast; and even today, I can still count the number of Black Women, hispanic women and Asian women in GM shops on one hand compared to the number of White Women in the biz.

Renetta McCann's recent departure from Starcom reminds me of how few Black Women in any position of power this industry embraces.

As for Black males? If you see more than 2-3 at a time, let me know.

Now do White Women run into glass ceilings and discrimination? Sure. I've seen that up close.

But what I've seen Black, Hispanic and Asian women go thru in the business would make the women who rail against glass ceilings check into an insane asylum.

And what's sadder is quite often, Women of Color and even men of color are discriminated against by white women in this biz as well as by white males--who get blamed exclusively for this.

And again, once you add Black Males and Hispanic male professionals to the discussion, that glass ceiling turns into a cement ceiling with barbed wire and armed guards.

Everybody's got problems but don't get so self-absorbed as to not see the bigger picture.

[HighJive]

Well, as an individual highly interested in the bias and discrimination prevalent in our industry, here are a few random thoughts (which may not make a lot of sense, as it’s late at night):

1. Sexism in advertising is not considered a big problem because among all the groups discriminated against in the industry, women are doing the best. That is, you’ve made the most progress. Yes, you continue to get screwed big time—literally and figuratively—but you’re still doing better than ALL groups not in the majority. Need proof? Take your post and replace the word “women” with any other minority label, and the points become truer and more dramatic. Even bonnie richmond’s Clio example works: 10 women probably still outnumber the Blacks, Latinos, Asians, etc. judging that event. This is not to say you’ve got it good, or even that you shouldn’t complain; rather, it’s simply an observation. In some ways, your “success” might be the biggest obstacle to getting anyone to realize there’s still a problem.

2. Don’t know yasmin sahni (I’m presuming sahni is a female). But her points are both valid and destructive too. As with all discussions related to bias and discrimination, the only diversity you’ll find is with the generated opinions. Working at CP+B shouldn’t make one’s points more or less valid. Indeed, everyone knows that place is a total Boys Club, especially the boys running it. That aside, the global discussion always inspires all sorts of responses. Simply visit any discrimination-related post at The Big Tent at AdAge.com and you’ll see what I mean. Ditto any discussion about the racial components of Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign and candidacy.

3. You wrote: “First, because - in general - I really don’t believe the men who are part of these boys club cultures mean any harm. Meaning: If made aware of their behaviors, they may be predisposed to stop.” Good luck. The same could be said about the other forms of discrimination in our industry, and there’s been little progress there too. Even subpoenas and threats of legal action don’t seem to faze folks.

Before this all sounds too negative, I’ll say I think things will ultimately get better over time. It’s largely a generational thing, IMHO. We’ve just got to hang tough until the Boomers retire and/or die (no offense to the progressive Boomers like ad broad). At the same time, we also shouldn’t hesitate to call out the inequities, as you sought to do with this post. Otherwise, the bad habits, attitudes and behaviors will remain.

[Ad Broad]

Thanks for speaking out so eloquently on this issue which has, for some reason, become unmentionable. (Like maybe if we don't talk about it, it will go away?) Should be required reading at management off-sites.

@Bonnie--interesting stats

[Advergirl]

Normally I'd want to take on Yasmin. But, hell, the woman works at CP&B. She's got a valid soapbox to speak from...

I will say though that if assimilation and compromise are the answer, I am definitely part of the problem.

[yasmin sahni]

it is this kind of article that makes it even harder for women in this business.
but attempting to define an "other" group and labeling it a boys club, only results in feeling like you are on the outs b/c you don't possess a penis. i say drop that martini and learn to drink a beer, and maybe just maybe you will learn to develop different kinds of relationships with agency leaders.

[Bonnie Larner]

Leigh, research shows that 83% of total purchases in the US are made by or influenced by women.

Just popped over to the latest Clios Awards page and found this:

Interactive Judges: 32 total, 4 women
Radio Judges: 15 total, 1 woman
TV/Cinema Judges: 15 total, 0 women
Design Judges: 5 total, 1 woman
Content/Contact Judges: 5 total, 1 woman
Print/Poster/OOH Judges: 15 total, 3 women

Total Clios Judges: 77 men, 10 women

Best,
bonnie
richmond, va
USA

[Phyllis R. Neill]

OUTSTANDING article - really enjoyed reading it.

Phyllis R. Neill, www.shementor.com