I am not at all ashamed to come out and say that I am a born again Feminist.
I feel that its my duty as a mother, business woman, mentor and speaker to promote the positive image and images of women in our society.
I started looking through my company website this morning for illustrations of business women.
To my shock and surprise, I could barely find any.
I carefully search through the portfolios of our 53 illustrators and almost all the images of women were stereotypical.
There were many illustrations of women with children, women working out, women putting on make up or dressing up but there were almost no illustrations of women in business.
Now, that’s not to say that we don’t have any business clients because we do. We work with some of the most prestigious business magazines in the world.
For some bizarre reason, all the illustrations that deal with the subject of business, have men in them and not women.
Now, I don’t want to point a finger but I am sure the briefings we get specify that men be used in these business illustrations.
Women now hold 4.2 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions and 4.6 percent of Fortune 1000 CEO positions.
Women have yet to break through the glass ceilings of these Fortune 500 companies but many women are climbing up the corporate ladder or starting their own business.
I think if we want things to change, we need to start using more women in business illustrations.
We can’t control the corporate world but why not try to advance the cause of women in the creative world.
Next time a client calls, I think I might just suggest that to them to use a women in their next business illustration.
Illustration Sebastien Thibault.
