Around 100
women and a handful of brave men attended the meeting, kindly hosted by
Linkedin. The evening was organised by Elina Halonen who has
conducted some research based on various academic studies into whether being a
woman makes it more difficult to progress within our industry. We were
challenged by the statement above and I have to admit it took me a while to
realise that the surgeon was the boy's mum.
I was
particularly interested in Elina’s research as ENI conducted a large research
study with Chime Insight and Engagement ‘Researching a Career’ that shows that
one of the least attractive sides of our industry is the lack of clear career
ladder. This makes it difficult for those in the industry to know how,
and what is needed to progress, for both sexes.
On the whole
I have found Market Researchers to be analytical, considered and therefore
fair. So I wasn’t surprised when the first part of Elinas research showed
that the respondents, taken from across market research, didn’t favour men over
women when it came to salary, ‘likeability’ and chances of hiring. In
fact in all areas women did slightly better and interestingly, men in
particular seemed to favour women rather than men, when it came to salary.
The second
part of the research looked at whether we describe the same traits in women and
men differently. For example are men assertive and women bossy? As
a result is it harder for women to be respected in the working
environment?
When
training as a recruiter one of the things I was asked to do was list where I
felt I discriminated. Chris Brown the Talent Director of Linkedin goes
one step further, his team discuss the language they use to describe different
people. We all agreed that being very open and aware of the language we
use and any prejudices this reflects, really helps eliminate discrimination.
One reason
for the different words to describe the different sexes, is certain traits are
more commonly applied to women whilst other traits are more commonly applied to
men. I felt this wasn’t discriminatory but instead reflected the
different drivers commonly found between men and women. In the 30 years I
have been recruiting women I have often found that women are more likely to be
looking for quality of life, flexibility, and enjoyment. Whereas men are
more likely to be driven by financial considerations. In the past this
has held women back, but as Caroline Hayter from Acacia Avenue rightly pointed
out, company culture is changing. Millennials of both sexes are thinking
more about work life balance, and this change means it is easier now for women
to take family life into consideration and progress just as rapidly as
men.
Market
Research employs a lot of women. The Researching a Career study by ENI
and Chime Insight and Engagement shows that a problem for the industry, is it
is hugely complex and lacks clear structure, making progression more
difficult. It may be that because women are often the ones that have to
juggle and cope with complexity at home, they find the lack of a career ladder
within research less of a problem?
Elina’s
research will be published in Impact magazine in January.
By
chance two of the talks, one from Jim Mott at Bamm and another from Christene
McCauley and Hazel Barkworth at Diageo and Added Value, focused on the power of
ethnography. I was particularly interested in the subtle and powerful way
ethnography had been used to help shift Diageo’s advertising focus, so that it
now takes into account women’s’ role in society and how that impacts the best
way to communicate to both sexes. Meanwhile Darja Germane demonstrated
the international scope of both research/insight and Costa Coffee!
