ANA: Marketing industry is 'overwhelmingly' female, except for CMOs

Dive Brief:

Sixty-seven percent of the Association of National Advertiser's (ANA) client-side members are women, while 45% of CMOs at ANA member companies are women, according to new data from the trade group provided to Marketing Dive. Men make up 55% of CMOs and 33% of ANA rank-and-file members.
Among ANA members, 74% are white, 10% are Asian, 8% are Hispanic, 6% are black and 2% are listed as "other." When it comes to CMOs or CMO equivalents, 87% are white, 5% are both Hispanic and Asian and 3% are black. The findings also revealed that 96% of overall ANA membership is heterosexual, and less than 1% has a disability. Marketers are overall "reasonably diverse," but CMO roles mostly lack diversity.
From 2011 to February 2018, ANA asked members to voluntarily and anonymously answer questions about gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender. The results were compared to a previously released study of gender equality and ethnic diversity among CMOs.

Dive Insight:

The ANA's analysis highlights that, while the marketing workforce is "overwhelmingly" made up of women, per a statement from the group's President Christine Manna, that breakdown isn't necessarily reflected in top leadership roles. The industry performs even more poorly when stepping beyond gender representation to take into account factors like race, as just 13% of marketing leaders are people of color, according to a study the ANA published in late March.

Marketers and trade groups are introducing more concrete initiatives to try and combat a lack of diversity. The ANA, for exmaple, is testing a "diversity scorecard," that, depending on the pilot's success, will be released industry-wide. It also last year launched #SeeHer, a project giving marketers the tools and data to help make better decisions around gender equality in their campaigns.

In a similar vein, alcoholic beverage maker Diageo earlier this year introduced "Free the Bid," which calls on agencies and content producers working with the company to include at least one female director as part of their creative bidding process. The CPG giant Unilever has also pledged to double the number of female-led startups that it invests in to reach gender parity by 2023.