Woment In Print
With fewer women in the industry than men, Carys Evans asks: “How can businesses work to increase the number of women entering the print industry and progressing to senior level roles?”
Friday, 25 Mar 2022 09:39 GMT
Amy Guest, digital marketing executive, Blue Print Media Group
Representation is imperative
Promote flexible working. It’s a well-known fact that women are predominately in charge of childcare responsibilities and by increasing the opportunity to work from home including flexible working such as part time hours, flexible start and finish times and hybrid working, it encourages more women to apply for these roles as it fits in around other responsibilities.
Promote a recruitment drive/internal promotion to encourage more women into the business and into high level roles. Find out what appeals to women about the industry and use this to entice interest. Put forward specific diversity and inclusion policies which are both industry and organisational specific. This encourages an internal change in attitudes to women in print and will resonate outwards.
Encourage more female apprentices into the industry, start from the bottom up and promote the ability to move up the ranks into more senior positions. Target schools and colleagues and use gender neutral language and printed media, photo images of females in print, on the factory floor, operating machines, represent women in print visually, use examples of females in the industry, present a bio from a female apprentice, female CEO and so on. Seeing yourself represented is a big seller!
A diversity of voices and decision makers is only going to make the industry stronger”
Be flexible with opportunities for women in print, understand and support the transitions in a woman’s life, for example when they are pregnant, support them in returning to the industry in another role, if their current one is not suitable as part time for example.
Being able to see more women rise to senior roles in the print industry is imperative. Women need to be able to see themselves holding a position of influence. A diversity of voices and decision makers is only going to make the industry stronger.
Promote differently
Caption Susan Graham, Managing director, FLB Group President, Print Scotland
We need to promote the industry differently. The industry sits in the manufacturing bracket which is not appealing. It’s generally not the ambition to work in a factory. We need to identify as part of the creative industry and do more within our schools – primary and secondary – to give an understanding of what we do. Most people are oblivious to printed matter, it’s everywhere but we take it for granted.
Working with DYW (Developing the Young Workforce) has given me an insight into how we can better promote to females and young people in general, what they can achieve within an industry such as ours. I don’t believe the same view of women working in industry or print exists and it has evolved. I’ve seen a big shift in 30 years.
We need to adapt in this situation as we have had to with many others over the past two years”
We ran a graduate programme for a number of years and we did attract and retain a number of female candidates. We attend recruitment fairs, invite schools and teachers in to see our facilities and what we are all about, it all helps.
The industry has changed its attitude to females over the years and I believe that will continue. We need to adapt in this situation as we have had to with many others over the past two years. The print industry needs to continue to react to the rapidly changing environment, it has to, or it risks becoming a relic of a previous generation. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the Print Scotland federation in my new role, working alongside a great bunch of industry professionals and we are all agreed we want to continue to develop how the industry is perceived moving forward.
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