Creative industries that need more women

female fashion designer in creative industries
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In the past 50 years, gender equality in the workplace has come leaps and bounds, but we are far off from complete gender equality, especially in certain industries.

With the wage gap another pressing issue we will save for another day, what we shall discuss here and now is simply the lack of gender diversity in the workplace. Recognisably this is a great shame for a whole host of reasons, and the underlying reason that there is a workplace gender gap in some industries could be anything from breaking social norm to lack of education and awareness of the matter.

It is thought that introducing a formal quota can help make a significant shift in the significant workplace gap in industries such as UK marketing and advertising, but the figures just aren’t reflecting gender diversity. According to The Guardian, 70% of young female creatives says they have never worked with a female creative director or executive creative director, and 10% of young male creatives are working in an all-male department. The statistics go on. According to the Department for Culture Media and Sport, in 2014, 36.7 percent of jobs in the Creative Industries were filled by women. There has been very little variation in this figure in the past couple of years. At much less than half of the population, it is evident that workplace diversity needs to be promoted; particularly in the following industries:

Architecture

According to the report, ‘Department for Culture Media and Sport Creative Industries: Focus on Employment’ published in 2015, only 28.8% of the architectural industry in the UK is made up on women. This is by far one largest gender gaps in the UK. However, it is motivational to hear smaller companies like East of England-based company, Paul Robinson Partnership make it their aim to hire by talent rather than gender.

Gaming

The UK games industry has the lowest proportion of female employees than any other part of the Creative Media Sector, according to a recent survey from Creative Skillset. Although the gaming industry has progressed in recent years in terms of overall numbers, these numbers are not representative of women in the workplace at all. When examined in 2015, approximately 2000 women were employed by the UK games industry, which is the equivalent of 19% of the total workforce in the industry. The good news is that Women in Games Organisation seeks to double this figure by 2025.

Advertising

In advertising, women make up over 50% of junior positions and only 30% in leadership positions. This is a crying shame because having more creative female minds in advertising, and getting these figures up in general would be an inspirational number for young girls to inspire to. According to The Guardian, 88% of young female creatives say they have a lack of role models. Having this more neutral workplace could help generate widespread campaigns which represent women in a way that promotes equality.

Software Design

Whether we like to admit it or not, technology has become the backbone of most industries in the twenty first century. What is more, if you walk into any tech company office, it will be more than obvious that men outnumber women software designers and software engineers by quite a long way. According to LinkedIn data, only 16% of people with software engineering skills are women. Additionally, it is very common for a team of 50 web developers to have just one female member.

Are all of these industries hiring on achievement not potential? Are they interviewing on a wholeheartedly gender un-neutral face? Either way the UK creative industry needs to change something fast to represent the developed society we live in today.

About the author

Chloe Hashemi is the Editorial Executive for Camm & Hooper, who host an array of business and other prestigious events at their Central London Venues, Banking Hall, Tanner Warehouse and Victorian Bath House.

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