I’ve been staring at my cursor blinking at me for longer than I should, coaxing myself into typing something clever about women in the first sentence. I could start with a statistic, or perhaps a joke…maybe even a blonde joke at my own expense. The fact is that it’s difficult to know where to begin. If you don’t know what I mean, imagine the article was called “Men in Print.” Where would you begin? Gutenberg?
I guess one safe place is to start with a disclaimer. I am going to assume that many of you have taken the title of this article to be the precursor to a bit of a feminist rant. A compilation of hardship stories about women in our industry, perhaps? While there are stories, few can deny it, it is difficult for me to be the messenger. This is the case for two reasons. Firstly, I have grown up in a school system that teaches me that boys and girls are equal. Secondly, I feel exceptionally lucky in my life, and that is closely tied to my femininity. So, here is my disclaimer: this article is simply a review of the realities of successful women in the Canadian printing industry. While some have had hardships, it is not the intention here to beat up on men. Gentlemen, I encourage you to read on.
We’ll start with some numbers. Then, with the help of the Diversity Institute at Ryerson University, we will be able to compare our industry to the corporate world at large. Once we know where we sit, we’ll be off for a chat with the ladies.
Gender statistics for the printing industry
The Canadian Printing Industries Sector Council recently released a labour force study, which investigated, in part, the demographic breakdown of our industry. The results indicated that there are more men in the printing industry than there are women. The numbers, however, are not so staggering. About 64% of the workforce in print is male. We are just 14% away from a parity of sexes in our industry. That strikes me as exceptionally successful.
However, simply looking at the number of employees can be deceiving. In addition to the number of females in the industry, it is the role that counts as well. You can slice this pie in many ways. I have chosen that my measure will be the number of women in senior level management positions. More specifically, I have surveyed the number of women in the Top 10 Gold List printers.
The results surprised me slightly. Of the 81 people in senior management roles, 67 were male and 14 were female. Call me crazy, but given that less than 50 years ago that number was most definitely zero, I think nearly 20% is pretty high. Interestingly, there is no tendency toward any particular role. I had expected that a majority of the women would have positions in human resources and marketing. The fact is, these women are spread across the board—law, finance, IT, operations, and etc. It is valuable to understand how these numbers compare to the workforce as a whole.
Gender statistics for the Canadian workforce
Women are 46.4% of the U.S. labour force (earning $0.81 for every dollar earned by men). They are 38% of managers and hold 16% of FT500 corporate officer positions (flat since 2002). Only 2% of F500 CEOs are women.
By 2010, 1,000,000 women will own small businesses. This is particularly important to us, as print is a small business driven industry.
Females now dominate law and medical schools and are 20% of engineers and 30% of MBAs. Almost 30% of senior bank managers were women in 2005. Given these numbers, we can see that the printing industry is doing well – within our own FT500 list (the Gold List), we have 4% more female management than the corporate world at large. There has certainly been progress in our industry. Let’s take a look at the stories of some females who have made it happen.
In the beginning
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, I feel very lucky to be a woman. On a professional level, I see my male colleagues as equals, only I have a cute collection of high heels and purses. I have never felt like being a woman has put me at a disadvantage.
When females first entered the industry, they were setting that path for women like me.
In order to understand how we got here, I decided to speak to some women whom I look up to, and whom I feel have influenced the way in which we think about women in print. They all seemed to have one thing in common – they are determined!
Mary Black
The first female that came to mind was the woman who brought me to Ryerson, and thus, to the industry, Mary Black. I was on my way to a psychology degree at the University of Toronto when I saw her presentation about the Graphic Communications Management program. I was a convert, one of many in fact. I knew her in the role of the school’s chair, where she was for 10 years. Today, she has returned to her entrepreneurial roots and began a recruiting company called Mary Black Recruiting.
When I met her, she was enthusiastic, passionate and very confident — I wanted what she had. Fast forward some years, and I am listening to Mary’s story of how she got where she is today, and I’m quickly realizing that she has a never-ending persistence at her core. She had earned the right to be recognized.
“I’ve been referred to as the queen of the printing industry…when they’re not calling me other things,” Mary says, jokingly.
Her career in print began in sales at Graphic Litho Plate. The company’s president had worked with Mary as a service provider in her previous role as art director and wanted her to work for his company.
She reflects back fondly at her experiences with her clients; working with 120 men on the other hand, presented challenges.
Mary’s stories, while sad at times, are actually uplifting because as you all may have guessed, she’s a success story. Mary captures her reality of being a female in print in these few short sentences, recollecting a conversation with the same man who brought her into the company: “I’m not here to complain. I’m here to tell you (the company president) that within the next three years, I will be outselling the three salesmen that I’m not already outselling, and then we’ll talk.”
In a calm and steady voice, she tells me: “Natalia, three years later, I walked into his office as his top salesperson and resigned; three years after that, I took over his office with my own company.”
Tracey Preston
Tracey has been the president of the OPIA for the last nine years. She came to the industry as an association executive from the construction industry. When I asked her what it was like being a woman in the printing industry, she laughed — apparently the construction industry has some catching up to do.
For Tracey, accepting the job at the OPIA was nostalgic as she had grown up being the daughter of a printer. She explains to me that women have been in print for as long as men have, in the capacity of wife, sister, daughter, etc.
“Print is like a family,” she says as she reflects on being embraced by people who had once worked with her father. “Print is familiar to me. When equipment is running and making noise, it feels like home.”
Tracey believes that our industry is doing very well in terms of gender equity. She has noticed that the definition of success for men and women is often different. Women often seek work-life balance, while men are more oriented toward the top. More importantly, however, she believes that “women bring to the table what men do.” It has very little to do with gender, and everything to do with the individual.
When asked if there are advantages to being a woman, Tracey laughs and says, “shorter bathroom line-ups.” She emphasizes that print offers a universal opportunity for career-minded, skilled and creative individuals, no matter the gender. “When you are determined to succeed, people recognize it, and then it doesn’t matter which bathroom you line up for!”
Nicky Milner
Nicky Milner is the vice-president of Premedia at Transcontinental. She started in the industry the traditional way, by joining the union and completing a prepress apprenticeship.
“My first union meeting, there were 300 people, and I was the only female in the room,” she tells me.
She describes some aspects of being a woman during those times as “interesting,” and that is about as negative as Nicky gets. She explains that “gender has not been an issue for me in the industry, because I haven’t let it be.”
The advice that I receive from Nicky sounds very much like that of Mary’s and Tracey’s — you must develop personal strengths and focus on being exceptional at what you do. Acknowledging that life has many choices, which you must own, you should also recognize that you cannot have it all. There are sacrifices to be made and no one is forcing you to make them, she explains.
“I believe it is less about gender than about single-mindedness of purpose. I’ve never felt ‘held back’ due to my gender, only due to my lack of understanding of what’s required to excel and thereby succeed.”
She stresses the importance of recognizing talent as a leader and is grateful to be working in an environment that promotes on the basis of merit. Successful people work to improve their strengths.
We begin talking about the world of print sales, which is often criticized for being an “old boys network” — in reality, Nicky tells me there are only small pockets of it left. “If you don’t make an issue of your gender, few others will, and if it happens, work around the person creating the issue, not against them.”
As our conversation draws to a close, she reminds me one last time of her optimism and bright outlook on our industry. “All we [women] need is a level playing field, and I believe we have that.”
Jana G. Lucatch
Last, but certainly not least, there is our cover model, Jana. Being on the editorial board of the magazine, she’s a woman who has been a mentor for me. Regardless of gender, she is certainly an A-type entrepreneur with ideas bursting at the seams.
She began her career in printing after graduating with a degree in psychology. She laughs as we explore the usefulness of the degree in her career so far. (To draw a quick parallel, Mary Black was also a psychology major).
Jana started out in a large company where she reflects she had the benefit of a great formal training program. She carried learning and education as a life long value all the way to her current role as the president of Magnum Fine Commercial Printing Limited, a division of Intertainment Media Inc., a new media and technology public Canadian company.
Much like the females you’ve read about above, Jana did not see gender as a road block in her career. Entering the industry, she felt supported by family, friends and professional mentors, both male and female. “My husband is my number one supporter,” she tells me.
She feels that print is a progressive industry, in many ways ahead of others. As a result of being in a constant state of flux, we adapt using people most able to rise to the challenge.
There has been a change that Jana feels is crucial for the industry as a whole, as well as positively impacting women — that is the advancement of technology. Jana sees technology as an enabler for women to join the industry in ways they had not before. As an example, press automation makes this skill more accessible to women.
Education has had an impact on our industry, she explains. Where in prior years printing companies tended to promote from the press room (which in large part consisted of men), technology and education allow for a new entry point. Jana expresses why this is important: “As IT, business development and more modern practices evolve, gender will no longer be an issue. We will be focused on knowledge, experience and the ability to take a company to that next level.”
We begin talking about what the printing industry can do to attract women. Jana tells me that gender aside, it is important for us to attract talent. One way to do this is to consider work-life balance. Family has been important in her life. As such, she empowers her employees in the same way.
“Educating companies of all sizes, especially the small and medium companies which represent the majority of our industry, about the benefit of offering work-life benefits to all employees is important.”
Being flexible is an important contributing factor of the great atmosphere at Magnum. Jana feels that employers should consider opportunities like flex time, job sharing and telecommuting.
Jana is certainly not afraid of embracing her gender. While she has never felt it was an issue for her, she is active in networking opportunities with other women, recently joining a Women in Print initiative introduced to her by Heidelberg.
So, I finally ask Jana for advice about what I should tell my female students entering the industry. She shares her three core values; “Jana-isms,” she laughs.
JANA-ISMS
• Learn at least one new thing every day
• Ask lots of questions
• Be passionate about what you do
Certainly great advice for all!
The newbies of today
So, what is the take of young women new to print today? As I talk to a handful of other women, I quickly realize that just like the women I spoke to for this article, they have determination. They also have something else in common — they’ve never felt excluded as a result of gender.
Interestingly, for young women the problem has been age.
“While I’ve never experienced so much as a single joke about not being able to walk into a pressroom because my heels are so pointy I can’t put on the clown-like toecaps, I have been ribbed for being young,” says Magda Stolarczyk, a specification representative at Spicers.
The truth is that the minds of young people are filled with opportunities for change. It is their turn to set a new path in the industry. While we, the women of today, walk in the glory of acceptance as females, it is our turn to shake things up as young professionals.
The young people I know say things like “printers who think they can do just that are going to be dead in the water.” We are a generation that is moving toward the integration of the creation and delivery of all of the media platforms. In our world, successful companies are those that understand that they should be able to deliver everything that a customer’s heart desires. This does not mean we have to know how to do it all. The key is to draw on the expertise of others. We move in networks in our daily lives, connected to everyone in an exceptionally overwhelming way — six degrees like you’ve never seen it before! Look me up on LinkedIn, for example. Even if we’ve never met, I bet we’re connected somehow.
I leave you off with a rather quick and unassuming conclusion (because being the girl that I am, I’ve talked too much and run out of space). Not so long ago, gender was an issue in our industry. The women you read about in this article simply did not accept this as fact. The result is that, today, we have a great industry in which gender doesn’t matter. Where gender doesn’t matter, what does?
Talent, skill, passion, dedication…
A big THANK YOU to all of the contributors! The Diversity Institute in Management and Technology at Ryerson University provided the gender statistics for the Canadian workforce.
For more information on diversity in the workplace, I encourage you to visit www.ryerson.ca/diversity.
