Digital as bad as adland for women

The digital sector is sadly mirroring the adland in its recruitment policy, after a new study revealed there are nearly twice as many men currently working in the sector than women.
And when it comes to management roles, it is even worse, with three times as many men taking up these posts.
The sector could do with taking a leaf out of direct marketing’s book, where the majority of top agencies have women bosses, with the likes of Kitcatt Nohr (Vonnie Alexander) Proximity London (Lou Barber), Lida (Victoria Fox), Havas Helia (Tash Whitmey), AIS London (Sarah Stratford) Wunderman (Mel Edwards), and OgilvyOne (Annette King) taking senior positions.
By looking at 150 digital businesses across the North of England, the survey – carried out by digital recruitment firm The Candidate – found that ‘soft skill’ jobs tend to be favoured by women, with the top three roles being in marketing and social media (27%), PR and communications (18%), and account management (14%). While the more technical roles such as search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC), were taken by men.
Brian Matthews, managing partner at The Candidate, said: “We know there is a lack of professionals with digital skills, especially in the North, but we wanted to find out whether a gender gap might be a contributing factor.
“What we discovered in our findings, is that we could potentially be alienating women, and discouraging them from taking up a career in digital – thus missing out on a big proportion of talent.
Matthews outlined ways in which the situation could be changed to encourage more women into the sector, such as implementing good flexible working schemes and closing crucial gender pay gaps.
Education providers should also be urged to be more encouraging when it comes to apprenticeships and work experience opportunities in digital, he added.