For this month’s edition of OPEN Chat, under current circumstances, we’re obviously not able to have a face-to-face meet up. Thankfully, this month’s speaker Annie Rickard has kindly agreed to take part in an interview, speaking about her experience as a female in the Out of Home Industry.
Annie Rickard – Director of the Women’s Equality Party and Ex-Global President Posterscope.
Why do you think there are so few female leaders in OOH? I want to start by saying that I do believe that OOH has got a problem with the lack of senior women and women in leadership positions. I think it is worse in OOH than other media and I am really disappointed that it does not appear to be changing much. The reasons are various and complex, and it is necessary for us to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Things are changing and there is more awareness generally of the issues and lots more women being vocal about the challenges, but we need to do more and change needs to happen. So many times I hear companies say ‘yeah well we have done women so we want to move on to other stuff ’… or words to that effect. In my view, there is not enough acceptance that there is still a problem. I think there is a structural problem too. Most businesses have been set up by men, for men, and so we are already on a ‘wonky road’. Think of all of the measurements of success – winning competitively, beating others, demonstrating toughness, getting yourself noticed, network effectively – especially in the pub. Many of these reflect male behaviours, and we know that women are effective at collaboration, considering and supporting. A few years ago at a media agency I worked with, there was a survey conducted amongst young media planners and buyers. The objective was to try and understand why the gender imbalance at the top persisted. The results were disappointing – one thing was clear; the men were keen to push forward, put their hands up, demonstrate their success, get noticed and get rewarded. The women were much more focused on the detail of doing a good job for their clients and ensuring that they did everything they could to get it right. The ‘noisy’ young men were more often getting noticed and promoted and the women overlooked. Without actually building something into the structure to compensate – targets or quotas for example, it would be difficult to change things. Add into the mix maternity leave, long office hours and the need to balance family and work, an unconscious bias, and you can start to see how things are stacking up against women. I once had a long session with young media planners and buyers in an agency about gender equality. It became clear to me that already, early on in their career, young women were talking about how they would not be able to do their job once they were married and had children because of the long hours required and the amount of work they would have to do. They were reducing their ambition already – maybe they should have been having conversations with their partner about how they were both going to be able to do their work and look after their children, but so often, it is still the women who feel it is their responsibility more than their partner – or maybe that they don’t want to work long hours and be too tired and miss out on their children. They don’t want that sort of life. So – back to the specific issues with OOH. Firstly, there are not many role models, and we know that the more senior women there are in a business, the more women are encouraged to go for the senior roles. No role models has the opposite effect – it fails to inspire and attract women. Also, women tend to promote more women. Then there is the pipeline issue – many senior male leaders in OOH would say that there aren’t many women in the pipeline for the big jobs, and in OOH there may be some truth in that for the reasons stated above. So it’s self perpetuating, and there needs to be direct action to change. OOH has always been a bit of a boys club. The buyers, the media owners and the way they transact hasn’t changed much over the years, and even though I haven’t worked in the industry for over two years, I don’t see much change. When Global announced their Board with a 100% male line up my heart sank. A new business with a new ambition with the same leaders … In OOH you have got all of the wider structural challenges and then you have got the ‘internal’ barriers as well. So what can we do?
What is the best piece of advice you could give young women joining the OOH media sector?
It’s really important to make connections in the business and to network and create your own support group. It’s really important to support other women – you can be both competitive and supportive. Find yourself a mentor and if you can, find yourself a sponsor in the company. I had many sessions with young women in Posterscope, as we identified a problem in that we struggled to keep returning mums. Once, these mums told me that 8.30am meetings were making life really challenging for them, for childcare reasons. I told them to collectively raise this with their (male) bosses, and it was agreed that these early meetings would kept down to a minimum – ie when there was a real crisis or pitch. Sticking together and working together made a difference.
Try and overcome the resistance to blowing your own trumpet. Stick your hand up, tell your bosses what your successes have been – women have to get better at tooting their horns!
Try and call out misogynistic or bad behaviour when you come across it. Don’t worry about being seen as a nice girl! Seriously, so many of us are brought up to behave like good girls – I had an ambition to be a nun once when I was a little girl!
Stick to your guns, be true to yourself and trust your instinct.
Did you ever experience imposter syndrome early on in your career. How did you navigate this?
Well, the bad news is I experienced it late in my career as well as early on. I completely relate to this question. So many times I have felt that I don’t quite deserve the seat at the table compared to the others, or that I won’t get the job so I won’t apply for it. I understand this about myself so much more now, and I say to everyone that you must push past this, even if it makes you feel really uncomfortable. We have all seen the various case histories, statistics and anecdotes about men versus women when it comes to confidence. What’s to lose?
Let me give you a couple of examples. When I was asked to join the Global Executive at DAN (this was in the last 10 years, so not that long ago), I found that when I first sat round the board table I was unable to speak. I knew the other (male) directors well, but I found it really difficult to contribute. I was, in fact, intimidated by the whole thing, which really didn’t make any sense. I got myself a very good coach and talked about it. Of course, a big part of the problem was them, not me. No one made any effort to include me or to welcome me in. Her advice was to choose one or two individuals from that board that I knew well and have a coffee and a chat with them about how I felt, and get their support. I did this and it worked. When I next started to say something in the board meeting, they encouraged the others to listen to what I was saying and supported me. All of this lack of confidence came from a sense that somehow I wasn’t good enough to be that table – I had this amazing track record, in most cases I had had more success than some around the table, and was better than some of these people, and still somehow I felt I didn’t really deserve to be there.
Another more recent example is when they were asking for women to put themselves forward in the Women’s Equality Party to go on the Steering Committee. I really wanted to do it but I convinced myself that I didn’t have the right sort of background and I wouldn’t be what they were looking for. Literally, at the last minute before applications closed, I realised what I was doing and I made myself apply. Yes – I got voted onto the committee, and have subsequently made a rich and useful contribution. Again, I was allowing my doubt to overcome my desire and ambition.
Recently I gave a talk to a girls’ school and one of the sixth formers asked me how to overcome this. It’s a really good question. I said that first of all you need to recognise it, and then you need to just make yourself really uncomfortable and just go for it – the more you do this, the more you gain confidence. You can build up all these examples of when you managed to overcome your concerns and succeed, and it becomes easier and easier. It takes time and it takes courage, but it’s really important because I feel that a lack of confidence is one of the biggest challenges women face.
How did you make your voice heard in a male saturated industry?
I find this a difficult question to answer. I am not sure I did enough in this area. I achieved considerable status and success, often surrounded by men, through all the usual means – working incredibly hard, being good at what I did, staying true to myself, recognising which battles to fight and when to suck it up. I do think it’s important to try not to take things personally – its very hard not to if you care but if you can find a way to be more objective it definitely helps.
I think a lot of the time particularly in the earlier years, I sort of forgot I was the only woman and just pressed on in a really focused and determined way.
I wonder now if I should have done more to report abuse and to report bad behaviour. I encountered plenty of it, but it’s difficult to explain now how little opportunity there was in those times, to talk to anyone about it. There was hardly any HR process – particularly in the OOH industry, and the media sector in general was not sophisticated in either training, HR, or in supporting staff in general. Male clients and bosses behaving badly to women was seen as the norm.
What obstacles have you faced as a woman in the OOH industry?
Looking back, I had to work a lot harder and I had to deliver considerably more success in order to get to the level I did, and I don’t think that is fair. I would like to think that this will change and it will be easier for all of you younger women today. It was often a lonely time and that’s why the things that Fiona is doing are so important – to work together and provide support for each other.
As I have said, a key lesson I had to learn was how to switch off and also how not to take everything personally, which was especially difficult because it often did feel very personal. This is an important lesson even if it’s not your own business, as you need to have some distance in order to protect yourself and in order to survive.
Can you tell us the story of how you joined the Women’s Equality Party?
When I read about the Women’s Equality Party being set up I joined immediately. I had spent many years dreaming of setting up a political party only for women in order to bring about a seismic change in the world. Although interested in Politics, I had had no experience whatsoever, and indeed had never signed up to any political party, but it seemed to me to be exactly what I was waiting for my whole life.
I think in order for things to change for women faster, we have to take direct action and something like the WEP is essential, because it focuses on everything from the point of view of women. For exmaple, the new universal credit is only paid to one bank account whereas before the various elements of it (like childrens allowance), went to more than one account. So if you are a woman and mother and in an abusive relationship, and the universal credit can only go to one account which is your partners, you can see how suddenly you have no income at all and are in a much more dangerous situation. When the bill was drafted, no one was thinking about it from a woman’s perspective and at WE we are committed to always ensuring that women’s voices are heard.
The Women’s Equality Party has six core objectives, which include the ending of violence against women and girls, and equal treatment for women in the media.
Since joining, I am now on the Steering Committee and I am on the board as a Director of the Party. I have done canvassing, fundraising, candidate selection and I have met so many extraordinary women that it is constantly inspiring and exciting. The WE Board meetings are such a different experience from those male dominated meetings I went to for so long, and it is an absolute joy to be there. Last May, we asked women to put their hands up to run as candidate MEP’s in the European election. Forty women did so – not one of them has ever had any political experience. The party is full of talent and women who have never put their hand up before – if nothing else bringing women into politics and encouraging them to stick their hands up is a great inspiration to me.
It seems like a natural next step for me.
Any advice on COVID 19 crisis and dealing with anxiety around work/the job?
Well – this is the most profound and extraordinary situation we have ever come across as a human race. The entire world has been brought to a standstill. The economic ramifications may be profound and long lasting. The suffering immense.
However, it is important to focus on the very good things that are already starting to come out of it. For a start – the national shift in focus onto valuing people who were previously seen as of little value – the caring profession, the delivery driver, the postman and so on. This has to be an opportunity for positive change in our society – and let’s face it, the vast majority of caring roles are done by women. Also, how our own personal values will change – what really matters now and in the future compared to before?
But it is also an opportunity to look at your job, your company and to think creatively about what good can come from this. A new appreciation for others; maybe the opportunity to create some new connections, maybe to start thinking about what really matters in your business and what can be changed for the better. I think there is plenty of opportunity to be innovative and to take more risk.
The most important thing is to stay safe and look after each other.
We want to extend a special thank you to Annie for taking the time to provide this interview in these strange circumstances, and we’re all looking forward to our next face-to-face OPEN Chat in the future, whenever that may be!
We encourage you to take the time to visit the Women’s Equality Party’s site here to read about all the important work they’re doing.
