Now that the semester’s winding down, I finally got a chance to watch the first episode of Mad Men, and it’s (almost) everything I’d hoped it’d be. Don is exactly the charming, brilliant asshole I had heard so much about, but the show can be hard to watch with the way certain characters treat women. In the 1950s, there was a far clearer social demarcation between the genders, and Mad Men pulls no punches in getting that point across.

I still have trouble wrapping my mind around how this blatant sexism persisted for so long. Surely, women realized that they were just as smart and capable as men, but they were harshly punished if they stood up for themselves, potentially losing their partner, friends, job, or social status. It’s like they were trapped in an abusive relationship with the world threatening to take away everything they loved if they dared to speak out.

While there are now far more women and BIPOC in advertising than in the 1950s, the executive level is still mostly white men. This could be a result of men entering advertising long before women, or it could be a result of society pushing women towards more “feminine” careers. Regardless, the lack of diversity in the executive level of advertising is detrimental to its success, and that’s exactly what the 3 Percent Movement is trying to tackle.

3 Percent Movement

The founder of the 3 Percent Movement, Kat Gordon, saw firsthand how agencies were losing accounts because they lacked a female perspective. Women are the dominant buyers of all but three product categories, so understanding them is crucial to the success of almost any campaign. She pinpointed these five reasons why only 3% of creative directors are women:

1. Lack of motherhood support

2. Lack of female mentorship

3. Lack of awareness that being a woman is an asset to connecting to consumers

4. Lack of celebration of female work due to gender bias of award juries

5. Lack of women negotiating salaries they deserve

Thanks to this movement and the work of many others, that 3% statistic is slowly climbing, but these issues are still persistent in the advertising industry today. If you want to learn more about the movement and get involved, check out their website here. If I’ve learned anything from Mad Men and the 3 Percent Movement, it’s that you have to stand up for what you believe in, even if the world’s against you.

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Tabitha Butler

There is unbelievable power in your words, so use your powers wisely. If you need a little help, you can reach me at tabithabutler27@gmail.com.

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