First 100 days

Women marketers should be careful what they wish for...

This US article suggests that when women come to dominate an industry sector, they actually tend to have a deflationary affect on salaries across the board...

The phenomenon is clear in the HR industry...and may account for a 20% drop in real pay over the last 15 years...

The article also highlights an interesting sociological phenomenon....

Men with children will be more likely to get a job and more likely to be paid a high salary, than single men.
Seen as more reliable, preumably...

Who does worst, applying for exactly the same jobs? Mothers of course....
Seen as less committed...

One final piece of evidence of a continuing discrimination against assertive women. A recent Carnegie Mellon study shows that women who try to negotiate a higher salary will be less likely to be offered a job, than men who do so...which further accelerating the downward pay spiral...

For female marketers, acheiving success is not enough. Achieving fair reward for that success is a separate,. and difficult challenge...

Posted by Editor at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After reading the recent article on 'Finding a Balance' in Mad, itself a response to WPP's Creative Chief Neil French's remarks that women in advertising are 'crap' and don't get the to thelp because they 'go suckle something' I find myself oddly torn.

Odd in that on the one hand I admire French's ardent political incorrectness, and the fact that it's a man who has caused us to re-examine the reason why are there are so few women in top marketing positions.

And yet, as a woman who would like to think 'by god I'm sure I could make it if I tried' I feel I ought to defend or at least find a reason why I should have to fight this cause?

The facts are in French's favour: only 22 of the top 100 people in Marketing's latest 100 most powerful marketers were women. And yet the odds are surely with us women when we start out...

I remember back to my first days as a graduate marketing trainee at Unilever in the early 90s. There were so many of us females starting out that our male counterparts looked positively terrified. And at one point our marketing department was so female biased the joke was the marketing director 'doesn't do male marketers!'

So then, where do all these female marketers go? There's a lot of pussy footing around the issue of us leaving to bring up families. Now this appears at first as an indisputable contributor. Especially as the average age for starting a family gets older, marketing mums will increasingly face the issue of trying to juggle senior management positions and children. Think how much easier it would be as a younger mum - not just in terms of less work pressure, but arguably it being an easier point in your career to take time out.

So does that mean that unless we older would-be Mums can find a house husband, our marketing career is doomed?

Absolutely not. I find real solace in the Market Research business. There's an indisputably female dominated business at all levels. And what's more, it's a business that must put more strain on family life than a monthly early morning board room meeting. Just think about all those late night research groups and frequent trips to the other end of the country if not the world. So how do they do it?

Over to you market researchers out there, but my guess is its a combination of an industry that is founded on a flexible working hours and marriages founded on having to work around some less than ideal work intrusions into what most people would call private time. Good ol' give and take. Am I right?

Here's the link:women in marketing

Posted by robyn at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The quantitative findings that underpinned the First 100 Days research reveal an optimistic and enthusiastic generation of female marketers...building effective teams through empathy and communications skills.

They're team-sensitive: 64 per cent of male marketers concentrate on ‘getting the team right’ compared to 76 per cent of their female counterparts who focus on team management as a priority

They're empathetic: 68 per cent of male respondents believe they can successfully translate customer needs into business targets. 88 per cent of female marketing directors are confident and more optimistic about communicating customer needs.

They take responsibility: 48 per cent of male respondents blame unrealistic targets set by the CEO as the main cause of marketing failure, compared to just 36 per cent of female marketers showing that women are less likely to pass blame if plans go wrong

They're proud to be in marketing: 54 per cent of male respondents feel that the marketing function is highly regarded in business sectors outside FMCG compared to 84 per cent of female marketing directors who are more optimistic about the perception of marketing

They're positive about skill levels: A quarter of male marketers think today’s marketers do not have the skills of their predecessors. Only four percent of women felt the same way, showing more faith in the current generation of marketers

Posted by Editor at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to this piece of analysis from CIM, women have closed the pay gap from 18% to now only 3% behind...

Indeed at junior levels, they are paid 6% more!

Achieving equal pay for equal work is only one challenge, of course.

If they are still not able to get access to the sort of roles that merit ionospheric pay, the point is rather moot.

Plenty of fairness, but no justice...

Posted by Editor at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 'Women in Marketing' review prompted me to reflect how much has changed in one marketing lifetime.

It was the early 70s when, fresh from university, I applied to 4 companies [2 car, 2 food and confectionery] to join their marketing training programmes.

Both car companies turned me down flat, stating without a moment's remorse that 'we don't take women into marketing'. .. . .oh! those free and easy days before equal opportunities.

One food company turned me down on the grounds that all marketing trainees had to do a stint in the sales force and a woman wouldn't be able to work in an all male force of 800.

But one employer was far sighted enough to take me on- but warned that as their first ever female graduate recruit into marketing I was something of a risk.

I did my stint in their sales force of 700- all men bar me! I then joined marketing. Many colleagues find it unbelievable now, but I was required to stay in the womens' hostel- no visitors, 10.30 curfew.

30 years on and we have proved to be no risk at all. The survey confirms all my observations that we are dedicated, optimistic, forward thinking and great people managers.

I'm almost tempted to forward a copy to those 3 companies that lacked the benefit of foresight 35 years ago...

Posted by gina at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)