Addressing the creative sector gender divide
Unfortunately, a gender divide still exists in the workplace – and this is particularly acute within the higher levels of the corporate world.
Female founders feature in just 2% of the Top 100 companies listed by Forbes Global 2000.
In the UK, the gender pay gap grew wider last year – to 12.7% – and in some parts of the creative sector the situation is even worse.
Figures released last October showed the average median gender pay gap at UK advertising agencies was 16.9% between 2020 and 2021, more than four percentage points higher than the national average.
While women dominate in some areas of the UK creative sector, such as public relations, where nearly two thirds of employees are female, they remain significantly underrepresented across the wider industry.
According to the Design Council, only 22% of the UK’s creative and design workforce is female, despite the fact that women currently account for around 60% of students enrolled in university arts and design courses.
While figures show women are entering creative industries at a much faster rate than males, the gap when you get to leadership and management roles remains significant. Research by the organisation Creative Equals shows that females account for just 17% of UK creative directors; further highlighting the need for progress in this industry.
As someone who sits among this minority of women leaders in the creative sector, I have often questioned why this gender divide still exists and what is causing it.
Part of the answer lies in the fundamentally different experiences of female employees in this industry compared to our male counterparts. The current lack of female role models is likely responsible for conscious and unconscious bias in hiring practices which further limits the number of women progressing to prominent positions.
I also have seen first-hand how the marketing and advertising industry typically rewards more typically – although of course by no means universal – ‘masculine’ traits such as bullishness, self-promotion and long working hours.
As highlighted in the 2019 Alison Rose Review, women also continue to face workplace-related challenges due to disproportionate caring responsibilities and a lack of access to networks, mentoring and role models.
For those women looking to start their own business, there are also further inequities when it comes to gaining access to finance.
Gender equality needs to start with businesses taking an honest and hard look at their culture and assessing the areas where they are found wanting. This may include stamping out existing behaviours that enable a gender bias, and rewarding positive behaviours such as empathy, empowerment, transparency and collaboration.
Implementing practical measures including flexible working hours can also support the development of more women in the workplace.
In my role as a Women’s Enterprise Scotland ambassador, I am pleased to be part of a team which is actively working to close the gender gap across all enterprise participation. Our focus is on increasing the number of female-led businesses, which remain few and far between within the creative sector.
While I’ve always had mixed feelings about my own gender being the centrepiece of business interactions, in a sector where there are few women in senior positions it’s vital that females are able to take encouragement from seeing others like themselves in these roles.
It’s important to present an accurate picture to other women about the rewards as well as the challenges for female leaders in the creative world.
This is a sector where the prevailing culture is not always conducive to balance. We are making strides towards gender equality but, as the grim statistics reveal, there is still a long way to go.
Rowan Morrison is the managing director of brand and communications agency Rationale
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