• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, September 7, 2012

Are women in the ad-marketing space more shy than their male counterparts? Busier? Or just plain ruder?

None of the above, in all likelihood -- although you might conclude all three, based on an open letter to the industry posted on the 4As’ Web site by the organization’s CEO Nancy Hill.

In the letter, entitled, “Women: Speak UP, Please,”  Hill writes in exasperated tones about her failed efforts to recruit female industry members to participate on 4As panels in ratios anywhere near the level of male participants.

“When I got to the 4As, I thought I would have no problem changing the ratios of gender, age, skin color, etc. being represented on conference stages,” Hill wrote. In fact, given her diverse list of friends, colleagues and industry contacts, she thought it would it be a “piece of cake.”  

But it hasn’t turned out that way: “Wrong. Sigh. Start over.”

Despite her best efforts to put together panels with a “great balance” of gender, race, age and thought-provoking topics, “at the end of it all, the list has changed. The men accepted,” while many women come up with a variety of excuses not to participate or simply don’t respond. “One by one, the phone calls are made, e-mails are sent. You wait. Sometimes you get an answer; most times you have to follow up. Again and again.”

“I honestly don't understand,” Hill states in the letter. “It shouldn't be this difficult. You would think that women would jump at the chance, just like men do.”

Hill added: “We put women on the board. They get poached out of the agency world. We put women as the heads of committees, they start their own agency and don't have time any more. We put women on the list to speak, they don't respond or they pull out at the last minute.”

Hill stated that she didn’t mean to condemn “my own gender. It's just the facts as they have played out. I take my role as the head of the 4As seriously. We represent an industry. I represent an opportunity, and I know it.”

Indeed, Hill acknowledged that she gets many more requests herself to speak at various events around the world than she could possibly accommodate. “But I do respond,” and most times if the answer is no, she will suggest another woman.

In order to right the imbalance, she said, “we need everyone's help. It is very easy to sit on the outside and say what you would do differently. I was very vocal about what I thought the 4As needed to do. Put your money where your mouth is. I did.”

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