“Women don't make it to the top because they don’t deserve to... They don’t work hard enough. It’s not a joke job. The future of the entire agency is in your hands as creative director.”
Not my words, but those of copywriter Neil French, who was responding to a question asking why there weren’t more high-ranking women in creative agency positions. Those remarks were made almost six years ago at a conference in Toronto. The ensuing uproar cost French his job with WPP.
I can vividly recall the journalists at the magazine in London where I was working at the time debating the story. Most of them, while aghast at his remarks, felt a smidgen of sympathy for French who was attempting to address a serious issue with irony. French said he assumed the setting was private. “I wasn’t joking, but I was saying it in a jokey way, in a situation that was supposed to be entertainment,” he later said.
The truth of the matter is that senior female creatives are virtually non-existent. It’s an incontrovertible fact. And the pattern repeats itself in other parts of the industry. I was reminded of this in the past fortnight following the AdNews Power 50 launch.
On the Friday of publication, I had a flurry of phone calls and emails from senior executives asking if they were on the list, and where they were positioned. Nothing unusual there. And then the backlash kicked in via Twitter, the AdNews website comments thread, phone calls and emails. They all complained the Power 50 only featured three women. I was also reprimanded over lunch on two occasions. Granted, it’s a pretty poor ratio, but I stand by it.
My standard response to these enquires was: “Who have we left out?” No one had a compelling answer. In an attempt to allow people to air their views, I asked them to write letters and contribute to a “Mouth Off” on the subject in this week’s issue.
Aside from one person, no one was willing to go on the record, forcing me to spike the planned piece. I asked some of our Power 50 executives if we got it right. They all concurred that it was a regrettable fact of industry life that in the upper echelons of the marcomms industry, there are very few women in powerful positions. It’s also worth noting that during the process of compiling our Power 50, among all the lobbying taking place, only one female media boss was suggested to me.
So how has it come to this? Clearly, the answer is multi-faceted, but I was offered some illuminating anecdotes while making enquiries. One concerned a media pitch that took place three years ago. The agency was facing 12 female marketing executives, not a single bloke among them. The male media agency boss explained one of his members of staff had been off work with a “bout” of maternity leave. The client was appalled at his clumsy attempt to link maternity leave to an illness, and they all agreed they didn’t want to work with this particular character. Nevertheless, the agency won the business.
Others have told me that a boozy, long-hours culture still persists at many agencies and media owners, and those who embrace this culture are rewarded with promotions, while women who want time off to build families get overlooked. Anyone who watched this week’s ABC documentary on Ita Buttrose will have seen the publishing legend recall leaving Sir Frank Packer’s ACP for Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited in the ’80s, and being mocked with catcalls as she walked across the male-dominated news room floor shortly after arriving.
Clearly, we’ve moved on a bit since then, but there’s still work to be done. On the positive side, the clients are more forward-facing, with corporate structures that integrate flexible work practices into their DNA.
But why bother? Aside from the need to reflect the make-up of society and the hugely influential role women play in purchasing decisions, there’s also a strong business case. I’ve read two McKinsey reports this week about women in the boardroom while researching this piece. One of the reports found that companies with a higher proportion of women in their executive committees post a better financial performance. The average return on equity can be as much as 41%.
Women are under-represented, but there is a solution. The UK media industry boasts Women in Advertising and Communications (WACL), which has been in existence since 1923. I’ve been to a WACL dinner and the organisation is highly effective at giving women a platform, and articulating the contribution they make.
Yet, we don’t have a WACL in Australia. Female representatives were only added to The Communication Council’s board a year ago, in response to a public outcry. Say what you like about French, and I’m not in any way condoning his faux pas, but at least he had the balls to address the issue. Maybe it’s about time the Australian media industry did the same.
This editorial column originally appeared in the August 26 edition of AdNews. Click here to subscribe.
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