my issue and practice

My issue and practice question is “why are female Graphic Designers outnumbered by men? Is this changing?.” I choose this question as my issue and practice as I felt it was a common issue that is brought up a lot in the industry.

From my research into the industry and the different opinions I have collected I feel that it’s the bigger graphic design companies that are affected more by this issue as opposed to the smaller ones. I contacted different companies in England with the question and also visited companies and asked there opinion.

Lynsey who is a freelance designer explained to me that after working for a larger company she could fully relate to the question, she explained that where she worked men and women were on completely different wages for doing the same job and that it was the men that were paid higher something she said she could never get to the bottom of the reasoning.

Cactus design agency also gave me feedback on one of the previous experiences with another design agency explaining that she felt her boss was sexiest she explained that there was three women in the department who were all treated the same even though they all had different titles, it became that bad that after 6 weeks one women left due to rudeness. She also went on to explain that the other men in the work place started to pick up on the way the boss treated them and would join in as they felt it was normal. She gave her job up after 7 months due to the constant battle and lack of respect.

Another company I spoke with was Liquidigloo a man called Rob. This contact took immediate offence over the email. I approached many graphic design agencies and got a lot of helpful and friendly response many from women but I did state in the email to him that I wanted to hear opinions of both men and women, as I felt this wasn’t a witch hunt in any way just a simple issue that’s been on going for many years and wanted men to have there say and opinion herd. Liquidigloo became very defensive over email and stated “Maybe you could also head count the number of male nurses against female nurses, and ask ‘Are they Out numbered” and asked where was I going with this, I did respond to his email explaining that I was a student and this was purely a essay question I also provided him with some web links to prove that this issue has been ongoing for many years. The response I got back from that was extremely rude stating “I’m guessing your teacher is a woman, with a chip on her shoulder about men.” And in response to the web links I sent him as proof his response for one of them was “Maybe the woman that wrote it feels suppressed. Maybe her husband is a slob. I found the contact with this designer a real experience and never intended any offense.

After approaching different companies with the question why are female Graphic Designers outnumbered by men? Is this changing? I have had some really helpful responses and found that women are wanting to talk about there experiences and are willing to help. I sent out at least five emails to male designers and only had one response back which was extremely rude and sexiest I feel that they either don’t feel anything towards this question or they just simply don’t find anything wrong with this. I have learnt that this essay question is aimed more towards the larger graphic design agencies as it seems to be the larger ones that most people refer to. On a portfolio visit to Axongarside I sat with both female and male and asked them the question together there response was inspiring, they answered as a team explaining that there company is all for professionalism and fairness and work as a team, watching them working together and the good vibes from them was really nice to experience the whole visit was very relaxing The only issue they could relate to was Caroline explained that in previous job interviews she was asked about having a family and what her plans were which she was quick to explain that Axongarside however wasn’t one of these companies. This issue plays a very big factor in employment law and is usually forbidden as this could be counted as discrimination towards women, but maybe this is why there could be a small divide in some companies or maybe men are threatened by women this issue has been ongoing for years and I don’t feel it is any closer to changing especially if you receive the same response I did by simply asking.