No, like, literally – where are they?
This blog questions: where the women at? And no, that doesn’t mean we’re going to give you the lowdown on the best chat up lines to ‘get’ women or offer you dating advice. ‘Where the women at?’ is about the lack of visibility of female designers, why the design industry is so male-centric, and most importantly, about the women who are making themselves known in this weirdly male favoured world.
Last year, an article– written by a male designer – appeared on campaignlive.com and it questions: ‘where are all the female creative directors?’ Adam Kahn, author of the article, makes a genuinely shocking revelation: that there are 0 (count them, 0) women creative directors at his agency.
‘Creative is creative, talent is talent’, Kahn writes. Surely we all know this– so why are we having to spell it out. It baffles me that in the twenty-first century, women are still being shut out of the design industry. Surely the ‘men go to work, women stay at home’ philosophy went out with Noah and his (man-made) ark?
Why is there such a lack of visibility? It comes down to support and encouragement: women can’t see each other succeeding in the workplace, and therefore feel the pressure of ‘failing’ in their ‘proper’ jobs (having babies, being a good mother, being a good homemaker… and all those other antiquated gender roles).
Just take a look at Kahn’s stats:
‘I’m embarrassed to report this stat: here in our Cincinnati office, our percentage of female Creative Directors isn’t the industry average of 11.5%, nor is it the 2012 average and conference moniker of 3% — it’s 0%. We have zero female CDs. It’s unconscionable. It’s ridiculous. And it needs to change’.
make it pop thinks so too: we are a team of designers comprised equally of males and females. No one has to make the choice of ‘work or home’, there’s support, there’s progression and encouragement and there’s no glass ceilings.
And we’re just one example: if you’re still wondering where the women in design are at– just look at what we’ve found! https://womenwho.design/
‘Women who. Design’ is a twitter profile directory PACKED with inspiring and creative female designers. And because they ‘love to find women who are excelling at specific things’ they’re always on the lookout for new nominees. And so are make it pop: so to all female designers who wanna make themselves visible, or to all men/women who know of any inspiring women– check out https://womenwho.design/ and @makeitpopgame, and get nominating!
