Do Moms really need a "creative comeback" to rejoin the ad industry?
Seems HR is really the one in need of retraining.
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This may be an unpopular take. But that’s cool because popularity often requires not speaking uncomfortable truths.
Here is my uncomfortable truth: mothers who wish to return to ad agencies after time off for raising kids should be fending off job offers, not workshopping themselves.
There are several programs out there with the noble goal of getting women back into the creative workforce after time away. I even served as a judge for one program that had a creative brief/competition as part of its retraining. Every single team presenting was so top-notch, I felt embarrassed to be grading their work.
I 100% believe that women are unsure about their skills after time away, especially around technology advancements — one of the stated goals of these programs. Yet I also 100% lay responsibility for this lack of confidence at the feet of ad agencies themselves. We believe what we do is so serious and specialized that we convince ourselves of skill gaps that are vastly bridgeable.
Nietzsche’s quote “They muddy the water, to make it seem deep” could have been written about any number of industries, including our own. A friend who’s one of the few women running a hedge fund says it’s one of the most family-friendly, lucrative careers, but women shy away due to its bro-brand of requiring brutal hours and cut-throat instincts. Sound familiar?
We have so internalized the narrative that success is linear and unrelenting — sidelining anyone who steps off the treadmill for any reason. Demanding persistent presenteeism is a form of gatekeeping that works against our industry’s vitality and creativity.
In 2018, 3% did an extensive study of Parenting in Adland which revealed an uphill battle for working mothers. Only 39% of women in advertising are moms — compared to 72% labor force participation of moms with kids under 18. To be clear, mothers aren’t more important than other women, but a vast under-indexing like this reveals deep motherhood bias. Harvard Business Review reveals many employers are biased against job applicants who have temporarily stayed at home with children, even preferring laid-off applicants who have been out of work for the same amount of time.
In the end, parenthood is another form of diversity — another one we’re lagging at. What I’d really like to see is agencies redirect “return to work” program dollars to expanded motherhood bias training of hiring managers and widespread sharing of productivity data about working moms.
Until next time, remember that culture is the new creativity.