Where Do All the Women Go? As one of the few female agency owners in Aotearoa, Billy Baxter’s article deeply resonated with me. https://lnkd.in/gWbVBx8z It highlights how our industry loses women at crucial points in their careers, often due to persistent structural barriers and cultural expectations, despite the progress we’ve made. This is something I frequently reflect on, especially when navigating the challenges of running a creative agency in a male-dominated field. In my experience, these barriers are both external and internal. We’re conditioned to believe that certain roles or ambitions "aren’t for us." We need to work harder to not only identify these roles but also support wāhine better as they rise. Often, the women aren't the loudest voices in the room. Or on social media, or in public-facing spaces. I remember being shocked seeing the 2024 Work Report from Campaign Brief a few months ago, with this spread of 20 males and no females! And let's not even start on the lack of wider diversity. I know some of these guys and they’re nice people. I also know some amazing women that could have easily been featured instead. So what kind of message does this send to the next generation of women in our industry? Even though we’ve made strides toward gender equity, clearly, we haven't come far enough. The traditional agency model doesn’t align with how many women want to work, so they opt out. I’m one of them – I opted out and started my own agency when I had a baby on the way. As an industry, we need to reshape the narrative and create environments where women can rise without compromise. It’s not just about having a seat at the table – it's about redesigning that table to be truly inclusive. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can create a more supportive industry, one where women not only stay but thrive. ? Design Assembly Billy Baxter Louise Kellerman Priya Patel Leisa Wall Lisa Fedyszyn Rob Galluzzo Tony Bradbourne Matty Burton Commercial Communications Council Campaign Brief
Louise Kellerman
1 个月
Ngā mihi Laura Cibilich you have been a valuable part of the Design Assembly whanau since 2009! This is why Design Assembly exists. As a young female in this community, I could not see myself. Over the years I have connected women through casual meet-ups and this year the Design Assembly Women in Design DAY. This is my purpose and has expanded to give space to all others so they can see themselves in this community. For me, it's all about breaking down the very notion of what success is. There are many ways to live a good life in design and it doesn't suit all personalities, values, physical or mental health, being a parent or a carer to turn up to the same location each and every day and work with the same energy day in and night out. I opted out of studio life and started Design Assembly at 30, only weeks pregnant with my first child. Now at 45 I'm in the heart of perimenopause. It means having great, good and bad days. I have had the pleasure of working with and now call many women and men in design friends. I see them - starting studios, working from home, solo, overseas, collaborating, in-house and so on. Let's start breaking down what success is and accept that all roads to a good life in design are valid.
Anne Boothroyd
1 个月
Laura Cibilich, in my experience it’s simply not an even playing field for women in creative leadership roles. Unconscious and sometimes conscious biases’ are still actively in play in the decision-making that matters. We often look to agency management roles to signal more women at the table, but given account management has been strongly female lead for some time (my entire career), seeing women promoted into these top roles has taken a long time to come to fruition. This is not true on the creative side locally. If agencies don't have female creatives on a proactive track to leadership with support and training in place, it's all just noise. We’re far too comfortable with the archetype of the male creative leader. And this is not to take anything away from all the incredible male creative leaders out there. After leaving my last agency role I had countless industry leaders say, we simply can't afford to lose more female leaders out of this industry, but there is very little actual action been taken to prevent it.
Kimberley Ragan
1 个月
We’re here. CB don’t give a shit though and I can’t remember a time when they’ve ever put me in print. Despite working where I do and achieving all I have.
Chanel Clark
1 个月
I’m not exactly “in” agency land so my view here might be invalid but I think a big part of it is around education too for the next generation. Agencies have been given such a bad rep lately that I’m not surprised a lot of up and coming marketers think it’s not the right way to go. Love what you say in terms of rebuilding the table too. In an industry overrun with males (no hate, just facts), it’s so important to have representation from female founders and owners talking about their own journey, experience and how they got to where they are
Jess Davey
1 个月
One of the things that always strikes me with these kind of layouts is how many people must have seen it before it was published and: 1. Not noticed 2. Noticed but not cared 3. Cared but not enough to speak up 4. Cared enough to speak up but weren’t listened to. The biases are so far past implicit or unconscious, they are encoded into the fabric of our industry. We have to be better.
Matty Burton
1 个月
Laura Cibilich I agree that spread doesn't hit right. One thing from where I sit, is that when I look up, I see and report into Priya Patel who is a great leader. On the creative side, I report into Chaka our global CCO and she is crazy good too. But maybe this isn't normal and I am just lucky?
Dr Amanda Sterling
1 个月
I think there’s something tangible in all of those men who are featured standing up and saying, ‘actually I know a woman who deserves to be featured more than, or just as much, as me’. You’re right, the table needs to be designed to be more inclusive but the people who have the power to do that are all those ‘nice’ guys.
Rebekah Rise
1 个月
Hi Laura. Thanks for bringing this to my attention :) I had been too busy to realise .. focusing on the glass half full of having a mostly wahine agency (except for Nate of course and the pup Iggy) . It brings balance to have men and woman. We don’t enter awards.. not really interested atm. Just really enjoying being creative and helping people. I love to mentor young up and comings too. Maybe we can put our heads together and make a difference here ??
I was the first ever female Chair of Judges for AWARD, back in 1997. I was crucified for trying to diversify panels - not just with women, but diverse ages, POC and even roles. I put female producers on panels!!!! I know, how could I? I was phoned at home by pompous men telling me I did not know what I was doing & that women ‘preferred’ to be in support roles. How fucking convenient for the mediocre men who kept telling me this. A certain publication which I shall not name ran the roll call of judges I had chosen in pink - for girlies - and blue - for the blokey blokes. Yet the highest ratio I achieved was 40/60 women/men on the print jury. The blokes had apoplexy. A few years later I was accused of running the worst AWARD judging ever. When I asked why it turned out they had saddled me with the appalling debacle of the judge who followed me in 1998. He got the members to vote. It was chaos. We were meant to work together - the idea being that the new person could get tips from the person who’d just done it. This bloke treated me with utter disdain. I remember he said ‘I want to do it differently from how its been done before.’ I said ‘That’s exactly what I tried to do it.’ PTO