The marketing industry is often seen as leaning towards a female orientation, but how does this translate in terms of numbers? Do more women than men work in the sector? And what genre seems to be most successful in getting the best jobs within the industry? According to our numbers, Marketing Manager positions clearly interest more women, with 55.13% of women seeking work occupying management positions rather than men (44.87%). This suggests that women are more willing to progress to a managerial or supervisory role compared to their male counterparts. Marketing & Sales positions interest both men and women looking for work, although they lean slightly towards women applicants (51.71%), compared to men (48.29%). Digital Marketing positions attract much more interest from women job seekers according to our data, with 60.38% of female browsers, compared to 39.62% of men.
As a more creative role, in terms of designing campaigns and using a variety of media, could this support the theory that women are better at multitasking? The report also shows that it is more common for women to rise to the level of manager or “boss” and not make further progress, possibly suggesting an industry bias towards men for higher-paying roles, or possibly a lack of self-confidence among some women. Factors such as location, salary and job satisfaction are important for job seekers when considering a potential position. It's not unusual for a boy to be on the field because, in my experience, he's not the female version of a “boys club”. I've definitely never discovered that being a Man in Marketing has had any kind of negative connotations, so I wouldn't worry about that. While both sexes valued factors such as doing something they are passionate about and a good salary, the findings reveal that male B2B marketers want to do something they are good at, while women ranked career progression higher.
Another respondent stated that “women don't like to stand out”, while another suggested that women marketers are “more likely to admit they don't know something”. Looking more closely at how women and men responded to this question, it becomes clear that this is more of a problem for women marketers. Nearly eight out of ten marketers (78%) continue to spend up to three hours of household chores, such as running errands, cooking and cleaning every day, and just over a fifth spend more than three hours every day of the week. The opinion of a senior marketer, who prefers to remain anonymous, is that women do better in marketing than men because they are better listeners and communicators. Only 2% of respondents noticed a female bias, while a third said there was a good gender balance among the speakers. One of the reasons why so many women end up in marketing is that degrees in the arts, social sciences, or humanities provide a solid foundation for progressing to marketing. The MARKETING sector is a rather lonely place for the male species these days, judging by the preponderance of women shortlisted for the awards at the recent All Ireland Marketing Awards.
Once again, in-house marketers made up the largest proportion of respondents (58%), with 31% working for agencies and 11% working on their own. With the most staggering difference in the platforms Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, their users understand them better, so on average, women have an advantage in the social media marketing department. Men in particular seem to be chained to their desks, with women B2B marketers nearly four times more (15 percent vs 4 percent) more likely than their male counterparts to work part-time. As one of the main roles within the marketing industry, it's not surprising that both sexes actively request an interview.
