https://www.fishbowlapp.com/insights/2020/03/08/international-womens-day-2020-what-working-life-is-like-for-women-in-the-professional-services-industries/
Anyone have any hot takes on this latest report? I’m curious to understand the why behind 60% of women said that motherhood would negatively impact their career progression at their current compaby
Rising Star
Gather around the fire children, mom is going to tell you a story.
If the modern day has taught us anything, it’s how important it is to understand your history. My best friend’s grandpa was a real-life NYC Mad Man. His family lived in Connecticut, he had an apartment (and a girlfriend) in the city. He came home on the weekends, maybe once a month. He drank and smoked and worked night and day to make all those cool ads, then he died of lung cancer when he was 53.
This industry is built on a foundation made in those days. The “ideal” worker is a man who devotes his entire life to his job. In order to be successful, we must contort ourselves as much as possible to fit that mold. The mold has not changed, people. 
When a business or organization or industry is structurally deficient, the most vulnerable people end up bearing the brunt of it. So in our case, it’s working parents and caretakers, predominantly women. If you can have a baby/ family, but act like you don’t, in every measurable way at work, then, no, having a baby won’t impact your career. Or if you’re lucky enough to work at a company who is trying to do things differently. But those companies are the exception and not the rule.
Of course women feel like being a mother will impact their career. In most cases it absolutely will. Making it harder for us to pour ourselves into the mold built by those mad men all those decades ago. Y’all, the mold needs to change—not us. We’ve always been here. We’ve always been talented. We’ve always been ready to do good work. But unless we change the structure of our industry—for every damn person—we will always be playing catch-up. We will always be failing in some way. We will always be resented. We will always have to work harder to prove our worth. We will always feel insecure and under water.
The whole industry would have to change. It would require agencies to put their employees first and not the client. We have clients that demand items with very little notice and want it in 24 hours which of course means working for the next 24 to get it done. From what we have been told this is t going to change. Clients want more and more work faster and cheaper and most agencies will bend to these unrealistic asks bc if they don’t - someone else will. We are seeing more and more clients go from AOR to a whole portfolio of agencies they have on project by project basis. If one agency doesn’t perform up to their standards it’s ok bc they can just as easily pull their business and carry on to the next one. Until the ad industry grows some balls and pushes back on the demands of unrealistic client demands many of the conditions in which we are all fighting against - including being a woman with children who also wants to progress in her career - won’t get any better. Our conditions stem from a much larger industry problem. A problem that may take a new approach of agencies working together instead of undercutting each other for the sake of a few bucks and new business that you won’t be able to efficiently complete bc your bid was so low.
It’s tough to answer probably because it takes so many little forms: not being put on a pitch Bc people assume you don’t want to work late, being put on the “baby account” at work, or even as simple as it being the only thing anyone asks you about yourself. All these things can seem harmless but add up.
Bowl Leader
100000%
This is a tough one to answer. I think someone’s comment the other day on the thread about regretting kids, struck a cord with me. “I don’t regret becoming a mother, I regret choosing advertising.” I can’t remember the exact words. Negatively becoming a mother did impact my career. Before pregnancy I was promised flexibility, which was something I didn’t even think I’d want or need. At times my pregnancy was put at risk with late nights, and many weekends at work. Loss of sleep, irregular eating, and an extremely needy boss impacted the pregnancy at the end I went on disability. Which then ate into my leave. When I returned I wasn’t given the wfh day I was promised. Instead my pay was offered to be cut for that day by 20%. Here’s the funnest part, I’d still be expected to work remote and be available that day. Luckily my husband makes enough money, and I’m working for myself now. My new baby was an inconvenience for my boss, everything daycare pickup, or if the baby was sick. Work was never missed, I still went above and beyond to please. I regret not leaving this career situation before I had even gotten pregnant. Maybe I’ll go back but I’ve lost a lot of trust in the industry, re: boundaries.
Pro
I would totally agree with that, OP.
Being pregnant now with my first I can already see and feel that my priorities are shifting which will impact my career. Staying till the wee hours of the morning just to work on some account for some product will never be as important as spending the precious few hours and minutes I will have with my husband and kid every day. Sure there will be times that I will but when push comes to shove and those hours start to stack up I’m going to choose my family over my career. What I’ve witnessed in an agency is that as a creative we are replaceable and just a commodity. No one is going to stick their necks out for us bc they don’t need to when we are quickly and easily replaced. So why should I stick my neck out for an agency and lose time and memories with my family just for an agency to make another buck off my back?
It probably has effected my advancement - could I be pushing for a VP role? Maybe. But I kind of don’t care. I feel like I get fairly compensated for what I’m doing, and I draw hard lines about when I leave the office probably 80% of the time now. Before kids, I often worked 12-14 hour days on pitches. I’ve found ways to work smarter, faster - and care slightly less. And be okay with not advancing and staying put at the same place for a while, because they understand my situation and are mostly supportive of it (I have 2 kids under 5).
Bowl Leader
I’d love to do follow up questions on that stat. Wondering what the top reasons are and what can be done to improve it.