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The Digital Skills Gap Report, published recently, highlighted Ireland’s alarming skills shortage. This was most evident in the retail industry and small businesses. One of the most alarming stats was that, despite women being 11% more proficient in digital than men, only 30% of digital marketers are female. What’s even more alarming? 6.5% is the percentage of women in Ireland’s top companies. This is well below the EU average of 10.2%. 71.7% are men who work in digital marketing.
Our Digital Skills Gap Report was based on an exam that contained 54 questions covering the core digital disciplines: search, social media and email, display, mobile, digital strategy & plan, and mobile. The digital skills of 622 Irish marketers were tested. While women scored 39%, men scored 36%.
Why do we lack confidence in pursuing more senior roles within the digital world, even though we possess the necessary skills and abilities? Why do we believe we will never succeed in the digital age? We talk about the economic benefits of having more women working in digital and offer advice from top digital leaders worldwide.
Digital Economy Can Benefit from More Women Participating in Digital
The under-representation of women in the digital workplace is a major issue for Ireland’s digital economy. With 150,000 jobs projected by 2020 and a severe lack of digital skills there, it has a huge impact on the digital economy. If there were more digitally-savvy marketers in senior decision-making positions, perhaps we’d see more women in Ireland and Europe adopting digital marketing. It is predicted that the GDP could increase by as much as EUR 9 billion.
Women Leaders Inspirational
These statistics may not inspire you to tackle new digital challenges, but perhaps some wisdom from the world’s leading leaders will. Never give up, never apologize, and always have confidence. Women are as good as men. (If we were to test it, we might even be better).
Find a Mentor
Leanne Goddins is the Group Account Director of NATIVE VML. She advises women to seek a mentor who can help them build confidence, identify and pursue career opportunities, and make good career decisions. She says it’s important to treat work as a profession, not just a job.
Don’t give up
Arianna Huffington is the Chair, President, and Editor-in-Chief of Huffington Post. She advises women not to give up. She encourages women to embrace failures and try new things. She says perseverance is the most important thing we can teach younger women. I always talk to my girls about my failures. “Ultimately, what makes women succeed is not giving up.”
Take Advantage of Your Diversity
Vanessa Gibb is the Native VML HR Head. She says women should use their unique insight, power, and way of thinking for their benefit. She says that women should build their strength on diversity, bringing different perspectives and ways of thinking to the table. Use that. Her mission is encouraging women to pursue digital careers in hopes that we will see a more diverse and representative workplace culture in five years. She concluded that “Clients want a change.” Let us be that change.
Be Confident in Your Skin
Kathy Rae Huffman is the CEO of Huffman and believes that women should have confidence in themselves. She says: “Have faith in yourself. And when you doubt yourself, which everyone does, don’t let it show. You should go for what you want, whether a speaking spot, a client, or an increase at your agency. You won’t get anything if you wait for the world to give you something. Never let anyone else’s treatment or opinion of you determine where you are or your self-worth.
Never Stop Learning
Mary Mattar is the Internet Marketing Manager at Webpage FX. She highlights the importance of staying up-to-date with your knowledge. She says: “The best thing to do is to continue reading books and articles. Stay on top of the ever-changing industry (because it greatly changes!) You can also improve your technical skills. You can take advantage of a lot of resources.
Change the perception of the industry, change our perception. Women are powerful, capable, and strong digital marketers. We would like to see more women in leadership positions.
Tina Brown is an award-winning journalist and editor. She’s also an author and CEO. “I attended a recent conference where I met many business and media people. And I was shocked at how hard it was to locate women in top positions. I think it’s a total sham.” Let’s fix that.
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