• by Jess Nelson , March 12, 2018

A professional association promoting female leadership in email marketing, Women of Email, serendipitously reached 1,500 members last week on International Women’s Day.

The organization, now a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was established in June 2016 to advocate for women in the email sector. From a team of four co-founders -- Jen Capstraw, Kristin Bond, April Mullen, and Laura Atkins -- Women of Email has since grown to 1,500 members in 32 countries across six continents.

Recognizing a lack of diversity among speakers at email marketing conferences, Women of Email manages a speaker’s bureau to promote industry women in speaking engagements. The organization also helps women advance their careers through a mentoring program and local meetings.

Women in the email marketing industry earn considerably less than their male peers, although the email marketing industry is almost evenly split between men and women. Women make up more than 47% of the email marketing workforce, according to Litmus’ State of Email report, a 2017 survey of more than 3,500 email marketers. At companies with more than 500 employees, exactly half of email marketers are women according to the study. 

Yet women only earn 89 cents for every dollar that men earn. The average salary for female full-time workers in email marketing is $65,000, while full-time male email employees earn an average of $73,000 per year. Although both salaries are above the median household income in the U.S., validating email as a healthy career, the gender pay discrepancies in email deserve a healthy review in the era of #metoo and Time’s Up. 

Notably, the gender pay gap narrows among younger professionals, perhaps pointing to a new generation of women voicing their demands for equal pay. Email professionals 45 years of age and up have a gender pay gap of 16 cents, up from the average gap of 11 cents. B2B email marketers have a gender pay gap of 8 cents, compared to 12 cents at B2C companies and agencies, and 14 cents at nonprofits. 

Furthermore, male email marketers are also 29.2% more likely to be tasked with overseeing all business operations, according to Litmus, while men and women generally split jobs involving email strategy, email performance, and email management.

"We've discovered repeatedly that prior to Women of Email, many of our members felt isolated while facing common challenges that affect working women everywhere and, more specifically, in the email marketing niche,” states April Mullen, treasurer at Women of Email and head of North American client strategy and innovation for Selligent. “We've given them a community to get the advice, mentorship, and confidence needed to accelerate their careers.”  

Women with professional ties to email marketing can join the association for free.