Laura's Word 15 April 2013

Talk about timing. Just as the LBB team get to work putting together a special Women in Advertising newsletter, one of the most powerful organisms in the world ever to have possessed a pair of matching X chromosomes pegged it. And of course, there's also the recent publication of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s book ‘Lean In’. Suddenly everyone’s talking about women, power and how – or even if – women should help each other up the career ladder.

 

Margaret Thatcher, best known for her handbags and the invention of soft scoop ice cream, was also in her spare time known to dabble in prime ministering. And she was, as it so happens, the first lady in the UK to do so. Whatever your verdict on her politics, domestic or international, she was indubitably a pioneering female presence in the rarefied circles of global power. And for small girls growing up under her stern shadow in the 1980s, at the very least she rendered the idea that girls can’t do x, y or z a bit of a non-issue. But where she ‘blazed a trail’ she also burned bridges.  

 

Quite happy to be the exception rather than the rule, Thatcher was notoriously reluctant to use her power to address structural imbalances and level the playing field for women. It seems that just having a woman in a top role isn’t enough to make a difference. Funnily enough, as I write this, there’s an article on The Drum that suggests within the creative industries some women may – consciously or unconsciously – discriminate against other women. When there’s only room for one or two Queen Bees in an organisation or industry perhaps a self-preservation instinct kicks in – but I suspect that says more about the organisation, in question rather than the whole of womankind. And isn’t that idea that women view each other as nothing but competition and can’t work together without descending into a bitchfest just… a bit boring? Not to mention inaccurate.

 

Actively challenging that perception are organisations like SheSays, a global network which encourages and enables mentoring relationships and creative collaboration. 

 

Inevitably when the question of ‘women in advertising’ comes up, there are those who ask ‘but what about the men in advertising’. But when most panels, awards juries and boards are so predominantly male despite the plethora of talented, inspiring women in the industry, the point hardly stands. I suspect that I’ve unwittingly put together more ‘men in advertising’ LBB newsletters than I’d like to admit. 

 

Whatever your personal take is – and whatever you’ve got between your legs – I hope this special edition of the LBB newsletter has something for you.