A 2018 report by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation found that while board gender diversity has been increasing, the number of women in executive leadership positions continued to hover around 5%.
That said, when it comes to marketing leadership, change is in the air. Forbes recently released its annual report, The World’s Most Influential CMOs 2019, and the results are encouraging: Of the 50 top CMOs selected on the list, a majority were women — 31, to be precise.
The results continue the trend of last year’s report, in which 26 of the top 50 CMOs identified were women.
While women saw greater representation in this year’s The World’s Most Influential CMOs report, there were other areas within the report where they were still lagging behind. One example was news coverage.
The report examined the total number of news mentions for women in the top 50 compared to the male counterparts. The top 50 women received 1,050 news mentions, while the top 50 men received 1,959 news mentions; almost double the amount.
This shows that even when the number of male and female leaders are the same, men are still getting more air time in the media.
There’s no denying that we’re making strides in closing the gender gap, but there’s still a way to go. Corporate leaders are aware of this need and are taking a stand to create more diverse environments within their organizations, and in the world at large.
At IBM, Senior Vice President of Digital Sales and Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Peluso oversees the company’s Be Equal campaign, which aims to promote equality in the workplace.
The world is yours, women of Cairo! Can’t wait to see all you lead. #BeEqual pic.twitter.com/2Khj3nHRpu
— Michelle Peluso (@michelleapeluso) June 25, 2019
Meanwhile, at beverage giant Diageo, Chief Marketing Officer Syl Saller pledged the company to the Free the Bid initiative, which works to improve female representation in leadership positions at ad and marketing agencies.
We should all be understanding where our agencies are on gender equality in their leadership and working with them to share ideas on how to improve, as well as see what we as clients can learn @Diageo_News @WACL1 @TheMarketingSoc @TheMktgAcademy https://t.co/G1L7uUQoR3
— Syl Saller (@SylSaller) June 21, 2019
Understandably, the gender gap a major topic in today’s public discourse, with a reach of more than 433 million people on social media – according to Sprinklr data. Most discussions center on closing the gender pay gap, and creating more inclusive environments in the tech space.
With more female leaders gaining traction in the marketing field, we’re working toward a future of inclusion by default, rather than by design. The groundwork is laid, and we’re on the track to progress. Let’s see how the next few years play out.
