Feature: Special report: Women in marketing

As this year’s intake begins studying for the ISP Diploma in promotional marketing this month, women once again dominate. In recent years, the gender split among the candidates – chiefly account executives and junior marketers – has been consistent at about 75 per cent female. But look at the board rooms, and their bosses continue to be predominantly male.

But this is changing – and it is a long time since marketing has been the exclusively male world depicted in the current BBC Four series, Mad Men, about an ad agency in the 1960s (pictured). “When I started 20 years ago, it seemed the account teams were girls and boys but at the top were only men,” recalls Barbara Holgate, director of The Big Kick. “But now, instead of it being 90 per cent men at the top, it’s more like 70 or 60 per cent.”

As the profiles on these pages illustrate, there are many agencies now where women are on top, but, as the latest census from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising revealed, only 16 per cent of the people reaching the highest level of seniority in advertising, such as chairman, chief executive and managing director, are female.

Justine Clements, managing director of promotions company Unmissable, says this disparity is particularly true client-side. “From my experience when dealing with agencies, we deal with a lot of female account directors, but when dealing directly with clients, we still find that the higher positions are more likely to be occupied by men.”

Despite advances, the gender divide is most marked when it comes to creative director roles, points out Becky McOwen Wilson, creative director of Geronimo. “The final bastion of testosterone remains to be the creative department and that means we women at the top have learned to play the game to the satisfaction of the system – a male-constructed, endorsed and supported system,” she says.

However, Debbie Simmons, chairman of The Big Kick, believes there is no evidence that the disparity between genders in the higher echelons of marketing are down to traditional sexism. “I personally have never thought that I haven’t been listened to because of my gender in any capacity in the 20 years I’ve been in marketing,” says Debbie Simmons, chairman of The Big Kick. “It’s quite an egalitarian profession. People are judged on their merits.”

Kerry Glazer, chief executive of consultancy AAR, agrees. “Our industry is very good at spotting talent and employing talent regardless of gender. If a woman is the right person for the job, the fact she is a woman becomes irrelevant.” Sophie Daranyi, chief executive of Haygarth, is convinced there is little sexism. “The sector is probably further ahead than other industries and this is something we should be proud of.”

So, if marketing is something of a utopia where gender is not an issue, why are there fewer women in top roles? Clements at Unmissable – where most of the senior positions are held by women – says that women are perceived as being able to handle top roles as well as men but believes that “women do have to prove themselves more than men”.

The answer seems to lie in what the TUC this month called the “motherhood penalty” when it revealed that the difference between men’s and women’s pay more than trebles when women reach their 30s. “Women’s wages start to stagnate as early as their 30s and many are paying an unacceptable penalty simply for having children,” says TUC general secretary Brendan Barber. This is a reflection of fewer women ascending to senior roles, says Kat Banyard, campaigns officer at the Fawcett Society. “The paucity of senior flexible roles, and the long working hours culture, shuts women out of the boardroom and forces them into lower-paid, lower-status jobs when they have children. The result? Motherhood carries a penalty.”

This is certainly true of the marketing profession, says Clements at Unmissable. “If women are taking time off to have children, they feel the pressure of having to come back to work quickly so as not to affect their career paths, but it is often difficult for them to retain the same positions after maternity leave, especially if they are looking for more flexible working hours. Climbing the career path with a young family in tow is very difficult and sacrifices have to be made.”

But the challenges are particularly tough for those working in agencies, says Glazer at AAR, who started her career at JWT. “Because of the nature of our world, which is very fast-paced with long hours, I think that, as you move up the tree of experience and seniority and you do perhaps want to combine your professional life with having children, it can be very difficult to combine the two.” Holgate at The Big Kick notes it is particularly difficult for people in a role dealing with demanding clients. “If women have children and decide to work part-time, it is difficult in a client service industry where so much is to do with the individual you are,” she says.

Glazer believes it is particularly challenging for women who want to set up their own businesses. “There has been a greater proportion of men than women as founding partners with the start-ups of the last four to five years,” she notes.

Simmons, who is one of a small number of women to have set up an agency, points out that a start-up is a “24/7 job – you have to do everything”, which could deter women with young families. “When somebody has the experience to set up a business, they’re probably in their 30s but this is just at the time that a lot of women are thinking they want to have a family and how will it affect their home life,” she explains. “When you do have children, it is hard work. It takes a great deal of effort, time and energy.”

But Holgate, who has two children, believes that this challenge can be tackled. “If you are determined enough to do it, you have to manage it. It’s not easy, but there are different ways of achieving it.” Glazer, who went freelance for two years when she had her two children, agrees: “Getting it right is very difficult. I’m not sure anyone has a perfect solution. You will have to find out what works for you individually.”

With AAR’s experience of working with agencies, she believes that the marketing industry is becoming more flexible to ensure that talented people of both genders have the opportunity to make it to the top. “There has to be an understanding from both sides that it’s give and take in every degree,” she says. “Both sides have to be flexible.”

Sharon Richey, who has been running her own businesses since she was 17, currently juggles the role of managing director of Because Experiential Marketing with bringing up a five-month-old son with her husband. “Women do go off and have kids but, because businesses are more flexible and it’s more acceptable to work from home, there’s more opportunity for senior women to come back into the marketplace, especially as talent is hard to find,” she says. “You get more value from someone with more experience and you have to be prepared to work within the challenges that they have.”