Women outnumber men 14:1 at the Creative Industries Federation

Women outnumber men 14:1 at the Creative Industries Federation

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norman lebrecht

February 04, 2020

The CIF is ‘the membership body that represents, champions and supports the UK’s creative industries.’ That sounds good.

‘Through our unique network of member organisations, our influential policy and advocacy work and our UK-wide events programme we bring together the many sectors that comprise our world-leading creative industries.’

That sounds good, too. But why is it a no-go area for male executives.

Here’s the team sheet:

Chief Executive – FEMALE

Director of Policy and Programmes – FEMALE

Director of Communications and Marketing – FEMALE

Community Membership Manager – FEMALE

Communications and Content Manager – FEMALE

Policy Insights Manager – FEMALE

Strategic Partnerships Manager – FEMALE

Head of Events – FEMALE

Creative Careers Manager – FEMALE

Deputy Head of Education & Skills – FEMALE

Membership Officer – FEMALE

Office Manager – FEMALE

Events Manager – FEMALE

Head of Creative Careers – FEMALE

Policy and Public Affairs Manager – MALE

That’s 1 male out of 15.

Looks pretty equal to us.

Number 3 on the team is former head of media at English National Opera.

Comments

  • Malcolm James says:

    I assume that your final remark was sarcastic – or are you one of those who believes that, where women dominate, it’s men’s problem, but, where men dominate, it’s society’s problem.

  • Greg Bottini says:

    Well it’s about time the tables were turned, don’t you think so, Norman?
    Or was the title of this blogpost not meant to be satirical?
    Now, I’M confused.

    • Malcolm James says:

      A few years ago when 21 out of 22 finalists in the Yehudi Menuhin competition were women, Tasmin Little trilled that ‘isn’t it wonderful how women are succeeding’, and that wasn’t meant sarcastically or ironically.

  • Donald Wright says:

    And the one male out of 15 people is certifiably not of the “dominant” culture: Hari Prabu (https://www.creativeindustriesfederation.com/team). I guess there’s one Identity Group left that it’s OK to discriminate against in the name of fostering “equality” and “diversity”!

  • Mike Scachter says:

    What does this organisation actually do, other than spout pompous mission statements?

  • Jon says:

    Interestingly, although the workers are almost all female, the Board is still dominated by white, middle-aged men (13 men to 6 women)

  • SVM says:

    Statistically speaking, it is almost inevitable that there will be *some* small organisations/boards/groups with a lopsided gender balance at *each* extreme. Such lopsidedness becomes remarkable only in the context of *either* a large organisation *or* a lot of small organisations manifesting near-identical lopsidedness.

    • Mike Schachter says:

      Does it really matter? As I suggested what is the point of many of these organisations regardless of the personnel?

  • Alexis says:

    I hate to disappoint you Norman, but here (unapolagetically and in good humour) is our Three Choirs line up:

    Chief Executive = Female
    Finance Manager (PT) = Male
    Artistic Planning Manager (PT) = Female
    Participation Manager = Female
    Production Coordinator = Female
    Development Manager = Female
    Sales and Cutomer Services Manager = Male
    Box Office Supervisor (PT) = Female
    Trusts and Foundations Fundraiser (PT) = Female
    Marketing Manager = Female
    Marketing Trainee = Female

    So that’s 1.5 out of 9FTE. And the chairman of our board is male, but our vice chair and treasurer female. Shock and horror!

    Still, if you take the 305-year organisational long-view, where women were restricted to the ‘Ladies Committee’ from 1715 till comfortably into this century, I think we can all agree that things might *just* even out in the end… 😉

  • Hmus says:

    Ask who applied for these positions – These kind of low-paid non-profit charity and advocacy group jobs are ALWAYS dumped on women – men expect more pay.

  • Konas Jaufmann says:

    Now THATS what I call diversity and equality

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