Girl Power

Last Friday I had a very interesting meeting with Gemma of Well Made and the lovely Bee. We were meeting because one of Gemma's posts on her studios' blog about Women in design had inspired us to get together and toss some thoughts around.

Before I carry on, I just want to say, this post isn't going to be about inequality in the workplace, how women have a raw deal blah blah blah. Don't worry your heads. This is more about why the drop out rate of female design students moving on to paid work in the industry is so high. Gemma's article tells us that on average, women make up 70% of the design related degree populous but in the work place, a massive 60% of employees are men. At what point did all the female students decide to check out of this career option? I can't understand why so many would suddenly do a U-turn after investing three years of their life into this path?

I've seen it argued that men will market themselves more aggressively in an interview situation. They will promise the world upfront, where us girls tend to give a more realistic approach to what we can bring to the table. Are employers the world over being blinded by the yes men? Possibly. Maybe we're just not doing ourselves justice when it comes down to competing for work. I read an article a few weeks ago stating that women are quicker to say the words "I'm sorry" in everyday situations even when we're not at fault - ever had someone walk into you on the street? And which one of you apologised? This default reaction could be working against us. Maybe it's time we started to take a leaf out of the boys book. We should fight for our place in the studio, because we sure as hell deserve it just as much as our male peers. 

So last Friday found us in the garden of the Fee State Kitchen in the sunshine, wondering about what we can do to tackle this problem. We're thinking we'll start small. Probably a group of local ladies in the industry that will support each other in any way we can - even if that's only a place to get your bad day off your chest. Maybe we'll branch out - hopefully we'll show that it is possible for girls to break through and carve out great careers in design for themselves. It's totally worth the effort. 

TBC...

Svea xo