Mumbrella360 recap: Gender Equality: Put Up or Shut Up
In this week’s video recap from the Mumbrella360 conference, Cathie McGinn moderates a panel including producer Anita Jacoby, Ian Perrin, CEO of Zenith Optimedia, Peta Southcombe, marketing analytics manager at Maxus and publicist Elly Michelle Clough. The panel discuss the issues surrounding gender equality across the industry landscape.
THE F WORD
The panel discuss how the definition of feminism affects the industry, Anita Jacoby talks about gender discrimination in the broadcasting industry and how she was passed over three times by men, Peta Southcombe on why focusing on women’s gender instead of skills and abilities is doing them a disservice, Elly Michelle Clough explains why she’s a proud feminist and Ian Perrin on an undercurrent of sexism in the industry.(8 min 33 sec)
BEATING THE BOYS CLUB
Rather than write all these pro-feminine stories about “old boys” clubs, why don’t you do a story about the new breed of “mean girls cliques” that exist right across the industry that are ruining the chances of young men in the industry.
I have seen far more discrimination against men in the PR and media industry than I have the other way. Women are quick to hide the true story.
The “old boys club” within the industry is fit and healthy but has set up some unhealthy patterns that are not good for the future of the industry. Peruse any agency staff photo and you will see it is dominated by women of a certain age. Men face open discrimination when applying for roles as these women are hired with a built-in redundancy factor. They will leave and have a family and are quickly seen as incapable of juggling a family and senior roles. As a direct result they are not promoted and end up leaving. Sadly there is another eager crop of women behind them who will hit the same brick wall. Men on the other hand do not have this built in redundancy and the “old boys club” don’t hire them to protect their own positions.
It’s obviously wrong to treat women like career cannon fodder and it is equally wrong to overtly block men who can’t be conveniently stifled in this manner. So, where exactly are the future leaders of the industry going to evolve from when the “old boys club” starts to exit stage left?
Is a new “old boys club” being formed and adopting the same operational model that keeps costs down and continues the churn of women and offers fewer opportunities to men entering the industry?