A new Melbourne-based networking group hopes to address the still tiny number of women working at the top of digital and creative fields by enabling more women to seek out the top advertising jobs.
SheSays’ new Melbourne arm joins existing networks in New York, London, LA, Singapore and Sydney, and hopes “to support women in the marketing industry through networking, mentoring, education and collaboration”.
The Melbourne launch was championed by Kara Jenkins, an award-winning creative director who had an “epiphany-inducing trip to Cannes” where she realised it was time to address a striking figure in advertising: only 3% of creative roles are held women globally.
The numberr of women in top ad roles locally fare only a little bit better. According to The Communications Council, women hold 26% of the management roles in Australian marketing and communications agencies.
It’s a surprinsgly low number, considering women now dominate the global marketplace and women are responsible for around 65% of all global spending.
“We’d love to see more women make it to the top locally,” Jenkins said in a statement on the launch
Motivated by making positive changes to creative industries, SheSays hopes to expand networks of women in digital, marketing and advertising with mentoring programs established to support and motivate the ambitions of women who want to rise to the top in a male-dominated field.