Why women in the creative sector need strong role models - Debbie Adams

It begs the question: what’s happening and why does this drop off occur? It was in an attempt to answer this that we began working with our local universities in Leeds several years ago. We actively asked students what they saw as the blockers so we could tailor our approach and play our own part in removing them. This work has accelerated in recent times.

Beyond the challenges which are common amongst all students around how to build a freelance creative career, our collaboration with the higher education institutes has highlighted a key reason behind the drop off from women entering the creative sector: a lack of credible role models. A recent survey from the Young Creative Council backs this up, finding that 88% of young women creatives didn’t have a role model.

For us, that’s a statistic we can’t live with and it’s not one that will change by simply hosting 24 hours or a week of celebrating women in the workforce. As a result, we set out to create a series of actions over the longer term which go to the root of the issue.

We’d already launched a series of webinars to dispel myths and importantly offer practical tips to support a career in the creative industry but tackling the specific lack of female role model. The sessions were designed to showcase the roles available and provide examples of people, within Powerhouse, who had them. With the ultimate aim of becoming role models not just to young women or young creatives but to other businesses too. The response to that event was phenomenal, and off the back of it, we were able to recruit an attendee directly (visual communications graduate, Hannah Reynolds) joining the Powerhouse team as a studio coordinator in Summer 2022.

This year we have set our sights higher, looking beyond just our business, collaborating with others and seeing how the work we’ve been doing can help shape the wider industry.

So, a few weeks ago we welcomed female leaders from Haribo, IPG Mediabrands and McCann Manchester to our studio to share their professional journeys and also talk about some of the women that have inspired them over the years. This isn’t just a one-off event. It’s part of what we call our “Equally Creative” work stream which feeds into all areas of the business and also supports Leeds Beckett University’s #WECAN (Women Empowered through Coaching and Networking) project. In fact we’ve taken inspiration from our work with the universities to look at how we can work with young people earlier. This ultimately led to me becoming an enterprise advisor for Leeds West Academy, a role which allows me to help shape perceptions of the possible roles for students and showcase the opportunities available to them in our sector.

Debbie Adams, is people development manager at Leeds-based content agency, Powerhouse