Nominations extended for Google’s Women in Search Initiative
Google and The Drum have extended nominations until Friday 18 March, for the second year of the Women in Search initiative.
The theme of International Women’s Day this year was accelerating gender parity across the globe, and one of the most critical battlegrounds for gender equality is the workplace. When reviewing research by organisations such as Moz, the search industry is highlighted as one of the least gender diverse in comparison with other online marketing disciplines.
Moz’s online marketing survey found that both the PPC and SEO disciplines of search marketing ranked as the least gender diverse out of a wide range of technical and general marketing occupations, with PPC in particular standing out as over 75 per cent male.
There were also concerns that the representation of women in marketing generally is not advancing quickly enough, with women rising from just 28 per cent to 30 per cent of the sample between 2013 and 2015.
Not only is there a strong ethical case for improving diversity in the workforce, a growing body of evidence also suggests that diversity impacts the bottom line. With McKinsey finding that gender-diverse companies are 15 per cent more likely to outperform their peers.
The Women in Search initiative is calling on The Drum readers to nominate the most successful, innovative and market-shaping women in the search marketing industry. Public nominations can be made here until 18 March. An online vote will then decide the final shortlist of three.
In a new twist on last year’s process, the three shortlisted women will then pitch to the judging panel of The Drum Search Awards in a closed door session.
The overall winner of the Dragon’s Den-style pitch will then be selected by the judging panel to be announced on the night of the Awards in June.