B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Cannes Lions
  • WPP
  • State of Origin
  • NRL
  • Pinterest
  • Thinkerbell
  • B&T Women in Media
  • AFL
  • imaa
  • Anthony Albanese
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Meta
  • AI
  • Foxtel
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: “We Need To Stop Calling Gender Diversity A Female Problem”: Bec Brideson
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Advertising > “We Need To Stop Calling Gender Diversity A Female Problem”: Bec Brideson
Advertising

“We Need To Stop Calling Gender Diversity A Female Problem”: Bec Brideson

Staff Writers
Published on: 10th January 2017 at 12:46 PM
Staff Writers
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE

Marketing guru Bec Brideson has weighed in on the findings of a controversial study involving two of Australia’s leading ad agencies, questioning the industry’s reaction.

While working on his PhD thesis during 2013 and 2014, researcher Paul Priday spent six months inside the Sydney agencies of M&C Saatchi and McCann, as well as Ogilvy in Shanghai and McCann’s Delhi agency, according to Mumbrella.

During that time, Priday interviewed seven men and three women at McCann Sydney, and 13 men and eight women at M&C Saatchi in Sydney.

Accoring to Mumbrella, the thesis was submitted in June 2016, and found that female creatives struggle to get work presented to clients or entered into awards, while women in account service roles are exploited into working long hours.

Priday concluded the thesis with this: “Despite change being the lifeblood of the advertising industry, gender relations continue to protect the status of men through the organised subordination of women.”

Speaking to B&T, Brideson said Priday’s findings are similar to those by US researcher Megan Averell, as well as The 3% Movement’s study titled Elephant on Maddison Avenue.

“Both of those studies concur with what Paul Priday’s findings are, basically, that it’s a monoculture, that it’s systemic and that it needs to change,” she said.

“This is a conversation that we’ve been having for so long – how can there even be outrage from the findings? All the comments that happened under Mumbrella’s article were pretty obvious. There were the disenfranchised males who said ‘This is not fair, we’re being picked on’, and then there were the women who said ‘This happens and we need support to change things’.”

“There were also a lot of people of both genders saying that because it hasn’t happened to them, they don’t see it has happened. Just because you haven’t been murdered doesn’t mean murders don’t happen.”

Brideson admitted she has struggled to be taken seriously in the industry for forming her own agency.

“Everyone assumed that my agency was not legitimate or was a ‘female sensitivity’,” she told B&T.

“If I compare myself to my male peers who also went out and started agencies, they have had the privilege of the boys network from the start like offers to be bought by the big players, and that hasn’t been forthcoming to me.

“I often wonder if I was a man, would things have been different? The reason I don’t publicly say that is because people will say it’s an excuse or a victim-like statement, and when you look at these sorts of reports, it ratifies the fact that it is harder when you’re female competing against a largely male-dominated monoculture.”

Brideson said it is vital for agencies to have emotional intelligence, but very often their creative departments and cultures are not places where the emotional intelligence of women is given due credit, and feminine leadership qualities are not well recognised.

“With the core consumer being women – and as the most dominant consumer economy being female, agencies need an overhaul of their strategic approach – and the men in agencies can easily relearn new ways and acquire different skills to equip them with how to have relevance and resonance with modern women,” she said.

Brideson said the dominant party of the industry – males – need to agree that things must change and take action.

“I think we need to stop calling it a female problem and expecting that women studying and talking about this issue is going to change it,” she said.

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: Advertising Standards Bureau, seven year switch
Share
Staff Writers
By Staff Writers
Follow:
Staff Writers represent B&T's team of award-winning reporters. Here, you'll find articles crafted with industry experience spanning over 50 years. Our team of specialists brings together a wealth of knowledge and a commitment to delivering insightful, topical, and breaking news. With a deep understanding of advertising and media, our Staff Writers are dedicated to providing industry-leading analysis and reporting, both shaping the conversation and setting the benchmark for excellence.

Latest News

Telstra Launches One-Off Ad During State Of Origin Decider
11/07/2025
Clemenger BBDO Sydney office.
Agency Scorecard: Clemenger BBDO
11/07/2025
Matt Coote.
Matt Coote Takes New Senior Role At GumGum
11/07/2025
Spenser Skates.
Amplitude Acquires Kraftful To Embed AI-Native Voice Of Customer Capabilities
11/07/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?