What’s getting in the way of women in our industry?

They lead, manage and make transformative decisions in their brands and businesses. What’s it like to be a woman in the social intelligence industry?

This International Women’s Day we’re asking women about the challenges they face, why social intelligence is a great place to be, and what advice they have for other women. In this post, we hear from the women leading social intelligence across the world as they let us know the biggest challenges women face in the industry.

Angela Berger, Director, Insights & Analytics, Walmart

‘It can be hard to find a balance. As researchers, we often thrive on solving problems and accepting every challenge that comes our way. This can lead to keeping busy, but not staying productive. It’s important to stay focused, eliminate distractions, and don’t spread yourself too thin.’

Vic Miller, VP Global Comms, Brandwatch

‘There are some outstanding female leaders in the industry but we need more – it’s not currently balanced and that needs to change. There are a whole host of reasons why – imposter syndrome, not been seen as technical enough, juggling parenting/caring responsibilities and work, unconscious bias etc etc. But I know that there are so many women capable of being incredible leaders – they just need to be supported, recognised, and given those opportunities.’

Paola Barahona, Social Media Analyst, Social Business Intelligence, United States Postal Service

The fields of digital research can be uninviting to women and people may see that their background is irrelevant and that they bring nothing to the work or the field.

Karen Deslattes Winslow, Research Manager, Listen + Learn Research

‘Unfortunately, like most industries, there are flagrant examples of inequality. I left the market research world 15 years ago, at the top of my game to be a full-time stay-at-home mom.  The unreasonable requests for deliverables over holidays, the requests for proposals needed the next day, and trying to be part of the “boys club” was just too much.  Flash forward to the present and the situation has improved significantly. Though the pandemic has certainly put intense pressure on the duality of roles for women.  Listen + Learn Research has been very flexible with family and pandemic issues.  The company knows good work occurs when everything is good at home.’

Saman Bhatti, Head of Growth and Operations Manager, Audiense

‘I would say becoming a thought leader within our industry is the biggest challenge women face. Even know a majority of the though leaders are male. We are getting better but we have a way to go.’

We’re sponsoring a new scholarship place for women on The Social Intelligence Growth Certification. If you know a woman who is excelling in this field and deserves a place, nominate here.

We’re also committed to making a bigger push to collaborate with more women, but we need your help. We want to keep this conversation going through our panels, interviews, and posts. If you work in social intelligence and you want to know how you can do something towards IWD – nominate yourself or a woman to speak on the SILab platform here.

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