Paving The Way For Women: Fixing The Marketing Gender Pay Gap

According to the BBC, the gender pay gap is “the percentage difference between average hourly earnings for men and women.”

This is not to be confused with gender pay discrimination, which is when you are not being paid the equal salary for the equal amount of work between men and women.

The gender pay gap can encompass many things: it can include a lack of opportunities given to women in the workforce, better commissions and bonuses given to men, a lack of women in higher managerial roles, and women being paid less for doing work than their male counterparts in similar roles.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the national UK average gender pay gap is 8.9%.

Meaning, that on average across all businesses, women are paid 8.9% less than their male counterparts.

If you want to visualise this, we only need to look at the UK’s Equal Pay Date.

In 2020 this was November 20^th – and it signified that, based upon the gender pay gap, women were effectively working for free from this date onwards until the end of the year.

When we put it like that, it’s pretty hard to believe, right?

Whilst there are laws in place that are supposed to protect women and prevent them from being paid less than their male co-workers, it’s not as effective as some critics want it to be.

Meaning, that the gender pay gap is still a very real and very pervasive issue.

So what is the state of the marketing gender pay gap?

With the ONS demonstrating that the average gender pay gap is 8.9%, it’s surprising to know that the average marketing gender pay gap is actually 28%.

At its highest, the marketing gender pay gap is a staggering 47% when it comes to those working in the charity and not for profit sector.

Why is it so high?

It’s no secret that the marketing industry – particularly junior and entry-level roles – are dominated by women.

According to Agility PR Solutions, those in marketing are usually “highly educated, and mostly women.”

So why are women so unfairly paid in the marketing industry?

Well, it could be that it becomes somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

All it takes is for a female marketer to be paid less than she should once, for this to impact her career for years to come.

Marketing Week explores this issue, arguing that even if a female marketer were seeking a new job, the fact that they would have to disclose their current salary (which is likely lower than they deserve) would work against them.

As they put it, “even if the new employer offers her an increase, working off the previous wage could perpetuate any existing inequalities.”

Meaning, that if female marketers are disadvantaged from the outset, no matter the pay rise or promotion, it will always be incomparable to their male co-workers.

And it’s this knowledge that is motivating so many women to actually leave the marketing industry – 11% of women, in fact, are looking to leave “soon.”

As a result, with women starting to leave the marketing industry, it could only make things worse for the women who are left behind.

Now that you’re aware of how large the marketing gender pay gap is, what are some ways that we can fix it?

The marketing industry needs to make sure that it addresses this issue and remedies the situation before it continues on the current trajectory and the gap only grows further.

One of the most common solutions people suggest when it comes to remedying the marketing gender pay gap is by encouraging women to be more upfront about their demands for a salary increase or promotion.

There is a general consensus that women in the workforce aren’t as forthcoming or assertive when it comes to asking their superiors for these things.

As a result, many people attribute this as the number 1 reason as to why the gender pay gap exists.

However, what if we told you that this was wrong?

Whilst so many people seem to think that women simply don’t ask for pay rises as much as their male co-workers, this isn’t true at all.

In fact, numerous studies have found that women ask for pay rises at the exact same rate as men.

As Otegha Uwagba, writing for The Cut, puts it: when it comes to women in the workforce “we are supposedly too timid, or too self-deprecating to march into boardrooms and demand what is rightfully ours, and as a result we end up being paid less.”

But, she goes on to disprove this theory.

“In a 2017 study titled Do Women Ask?, researchers were surprised to find that women actually do ask for raises as often as men — we’re just more likely to be turned down.”

What’s more, a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review actually states that when it comes to asking for a salary raise, whilst asking at the same rate as each other, men are granted one 20% of the time.

Women, on the other hand, are only granted one 15% of the time.

So if the issue isn’t women asking for equal treatment, what’s left to do to fix it?

One of the best ways to improve or remedy the marketing gender pay gap is to enlist the help of male co-workers.

It’s only by male co-workers being upfront about their salaries, the better treatment they receive, and their superior bonuses that women will enable women to be better informed.

As a result, female marketers are better equipped to tackle the issue.

Maybe it’s classic British upper-lip-ness, or a culture of shame, that is stopping us from discussing our salaries with the people we work with. But, this is actually extremely important when it comes to fostering an equal workplace.

As the New York Times puts it, “Open discussion of salaries among peers and co-workers, experts said, is a powerful tool to fight pay inequity.”

Meaning, that it’s beneficial to all employees for them to discuss how much they’re being paid.

Particularly, men need to be actively helping and engaging with women to ensure that they’re not being taken advantage of.

In Hollywood, there are plenty of male actors who have taken a stand against the pay inequality in their industries.

Emma Stone revealed in an interview in 2017 that some of her male colleagues had donated their share of higher wages to Stone in order to remedy the pay disparity between them, and make their salaries equal.

Now, no one is expecting male marketers to do this for their female colleagues.

But, it is necessary for men to take an active role in helping their colleagues.

Using their positions of privilege within the office, male marketers should be ensuring that they’re doing everything they can to aid their female counterparts in gaining pay equality.

Currently in the UK, the Government has made it a legal requirement for businesses that have over 250 employees to publish their pay records.

Each year, companies have to publicly share how much they’re paying their employees so that the government can determine the pay gaps at each business, as well as across the country.

This acts as a great incentive for companies to pay their employees equally and fix the marketing gender pay gap, or otherwise face backlash from the public.

What’s more, companies that don’t submit these statistics to the government in time face punishment.

If the companies refuse or miss the submission deadline, they’re faced with enforcement proceedings that could impede their business.

However, some critics believe that this isn’t enough.

There are plenty of companies in the UK operating with less than 250 employees, meaning that these businesses are exempt from providing the valuable data.

And when we consider that it’s within these smaller companies, usually without a HR or strict corporate policies, that the salaries are often dependent on the decision of the CEO.

Which makes it all too easy for them to underpay their female employees as no one is monitoring this.

What’s more, this information isn’t exactly easily accessible.

The average marketer may not be aware that this data exists, given how little publicity it receives.

What’s more, it can also be hard to understand.

As a result, the data isn’t having the impact that it is meant to.

If the average female marketer isn’t aware specifically of the marketing gender pay gap data, what is the point of it?

Making it more public means female marketers are able to use it to their advantage.

Another thing businesses can do to improve on their marketing gender pay gap is to ensure a more diverse hiring process.

As we mentioned in our diversity in the workplace article, one of the ways to make your workplace more inclusive is to diversify the hiring process.

This can be done by using platforms like Creative Access which allows you to hire people from underrepresented backgrounds, or prioritising certain types of applicants.

And this can certainly be applied to the marketing industry.

There is a serious lack of female marketers in managerial and higher up roles – particularly CEOs and CMOs – and this can be remedied.

By employing more women in superior positions, you’re able to make change throughout the company too.

Without female marketers in the board room, how is change supposed to happen throughout the company?

Employing change from the top down can have lasting impacts on those below, and can make a difference when it comes to the marketing gender pay gap.

It’s clear to see that the gender pay gap is still rife in society, particularly within the marketing industry.

With a massive 28% marketing gender pay gap, something needs to be done urgently to fix this and ensure that women are being treated fairly in the workplace.

It’s not something that many marketers, particularly low-level marketers, are aware of.

But by being transparent and open about the salaries we’re on, the treatment we’re receiving in work, and the bonuses we’re earning, we can change this.

So, how fair and equal is your workplace? Can you say with 100% certainty that your employees are being paid the right wage?

Let us know your thoughts on improving!