While we usually use our blog to discuss branding and design, we also want this to be a space where we can address important issues facing the design community. We also believe in professing the values that are most important to our agency. On that note, I want to take some time today to talk about a topic that we here at Anastasia Salazar Ltd. are particularly passionate about: women’s representation in the design community — especially when it comes to women-owned design agencies.
As a woman-owned agency ourselves, empowering and making space for women in the creative industry is one of our highest priorities. It comes through in every aspect of our business — the team members we hire, the clients we choose, and the projects we take on. We’ve prioritized this, in large part, to help combat the gender disparity that is so prevalent in the design field.
The Harsh Reality for Women in Design
Walk into nearly any design agency, or even a company with a large in-house design team, and you’ll probably see more women than men. According to Design Census 2019, women make up 61 percent of designers in the US — but hold just 11 percent of leadership positions. But it’s not for lack of effort. For decades, women have made up the majority of college-educated adults. They ask for promotions and pay raises just as often as men. And as of January 2020, they outnumber men in the workforce.
Source: Design Census 2019
So why does such a large gap remain?
It’s not just one reason — there are many different barriers to entry that women in design face when trying to start their own agency, or even climb the ladder. Some of the more common ones:
The pay gap: If there’s one issue in the design community that I could fix with the snap of my fingers, it would be the pay discrepancy between genders. 2018 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that women in the design field earned just 73.1 percent of what men did — and women of color tend to fare even worse.
The old boys’ club: When leaders or teams are composed mostly of men, it can be hard for women to relate to them. Their communication style or topics of conversation often differ, and the end result is that women don’t “fit in” the way their male counterparts do. In fact, McKinsey’s Women In The Workplace 2018 report found that 33 percent of women have never had a substantive interaction with a senior leader about their work, compared to 27 percent of men. Whether subconscious or not, this mindset frequently leads to men receiving preferential treatment and better career opportunities than women.
The fixation on appearance: Women in design often find themselves being judged on how they dress and present themselves — sometimes even more so than on their work. Of course, it’s fair to expect employees to maintain a basic level of professionalism and hygiene, but women’s appearance is frequently scrutinized far beyond that. Studies have consistently shown that women are perceived as less competent and less fully human when evaluators focus on the way they look.
Beyond these systematic hurdles, nearly every woman encounters instances of workplace sexism and harassment in their careers — I know I have. At one of my previous jobs, for example, I was the only woman in the room for a five-hour sales and marketing workshop. One of the exercises was a persona deep dive, where we came up with bios for different customer segments within our target audience. When we came to the persona for women 25-45, the team painted an alarmingly shallow picture: they said she’d be home in her Lulu Lemon leggings, sitting on the couch with a candle burning, drinking wine and scrolling through Bumble. Even worse, it ended with someone joking about how she would have Plan B on the table next to her. The whole room laughed except for me.
Although I’ve now re-run the situation in my head a thousand times over, thinking of all the perfect things I could’ve said, at the time I couldn’t do anything but sit in shocked silence. In an attempt to help (I guess?), one of my male colleagues mentioned a few times that they should be careful because there was a woman in the room, but the whole thing was uncomfortable and disappointing. Of course, that's just my own personal experience, but the sad truth is, many women have experienced much worse. With the odds stacked against women in design in so many ways, it’s no surprise that there aren’t more of them opening up their own agencies.
The Benefits of Equal Representation
Okay, enough bad news — let’s talk about the amazing things that can happen when women lead design firms. Having worked with women-owned design agencies before, I can testify firsthand how powerful it is to feel represented and supported. One of my former employers was an agency headed by two women, and to this day, it’s still one of the best-run companies I’ve worked for and with. Their communication skills were on point. They would address the whole group personally when problems or tension arose, they opened the floor to feedback on a weekly basis, and they regularly held team bonding sessions. The leaders there truly put equal effort into their teams as the clients — which not many companies can claim. They showed that they really cared, but they also got business DONE.
I felt motivated and inspired working there, even if I wasn’t crazy about the specific project I was working on. Of course, that’s not to say that all of my experiences working with men have been awful and all the ones with women have been great, but throughout my career, greater diversity and equal representation have only been beneficial.
These benefits aren’t just anecdotal, though. There’s a large body of research showing concrete advantages to diversity in the workplace. A study by Boston Consulting Group, for example, found that companies with above-average diversity in their leadership teams reported innovation revenue that was 19 percentage points higher than companies with below-average leadership diversity. It makes sense — when everybody feels welcome, the room for creativity magnifies. The different perspectives that come into the fold play a key role in helping a company come up with new, cutting-edge solutions. Beyond innovation, diversity can also help companies better understand and appeal to their audience — and with women driving 70-80 percent of all consumer purchasing, through both direct purchases and influence, it’s well worth hiring women-owned design agencies who can better relate to them.
Change on the Horizon
While women in design are far from equally represented in senior leadership, partnership, and business owner positions, there is reason to be hopeful. The 3% Movement — an organization aimed at increasing the number of female creative directors — has reported that the proportion of women creative directors has increased from three percent to 29 percent in just a few years.
Women designers are gaining more prominence in the cultural zeitgeist as well, inspiring even more women to follow in their footsteps. Contemporary women designers like Jessica Walsh, owner and Creative Director at &Walsh, have become industry celebrities, while women whose work was previously under-appreciated — such as Carolyn Davidson, the original designer of the Nike “Swoosh” logo — have finally become recognized for their significant contributions to the design world.
There are also more organizations dedicated to celebrating and empowering women in the creative arts, such as Women in Design, Ladies, Wine & Design and Women Talk Design, dedicated events for women through organizations like AIGA, and even work spaces expressly for women and non-binary people popping up all over the world.
Source: Ladies, Wine & Design
Of course, this doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. Women in design still have a long way to go before they reach true parity with their male counterparts, and if that’s ever going to happen, we can’t fall victim to complacency. Employers need to seek out female design talent and foster an environment in which women are able to grow and thrive by setting real, concrete, measurable goals. Members of the media and design thought leaders need to elevate the profiles of the many incredible women designers working today, as well as celebrating the achievements of women designers in the past. And companies need to prioritize working with design agencies that put their money where their mouth is when it comes to equal gender representation.
We’re committed to doing our part — and we hope you will be, too.
Anastasia Salazar Ltd. is an independent design studio for tailored branding and digital designs. Reach out to learn how we can help you fuel growth and maximize your brand’s impact.