What I think... about women in research

WIRe says its mission is to encourage “the establishment of empowering and nurturing relationships among women in market research through informal gatherings”. We asked Luck for her view on the status of women in market research.

Research has historically been a female-dominated industry, but when you look at the Honomichl 50 only 16% of CEOs are women. You just don’t see as many women in senior management positions as you do men.

Society is changing and I definitely think there are a lot more opportunities for women now than when I first entered the business in 1994. There are more women in mid-level management positions now than 18 years ago but I still feel there is a pretty significant imbalance at the top – and that’s just going to take time to correct.

I’m a big believer that the best person should get the job and that you’re picked to do something because you deserve it and because you’ve earned it. I would like to think that that was how things work but I do think it’s more challenging to get recognition as a women and to stand out in a male-dominated management structure. But a lot of the onus is on women to stand up and be heard and fight for a seat at the table.

Women have to pursue opportunities to get ahead or create opportunities for ourselves. No one took me by the hand and said, “Hey, this is your career path and this is how you get ahead”. I took the reins myself and figured out where I wanted to go and want I wanted to do.

I think there’s a pay imbalance as well as a gender imbalance in research. I don’t know that women are great about asking for what they deserve and I think that’s part of what’s driving my desire to grow WIRe; to create more mentoring and networking opportunities for women so they become more empowered and adept at asking for more money and feeling that they deserve to be paid the same. I certainly don’t want to place all the blame on men – we do it to ourselves by not asking for what we deserve.

Women are perceived as more empathetic and more emotionally driven and they have a unique perspective on how products should be developed. If you take women out of the equation, if you don’t have women on boards and you don’t have women involved in the research process then you’re missing out.

Men are welcome at WIRe events. They’re primarily for women but I think a big part of creating awareness about the gender imbalance in the industry is to make sure that men accept that it exists and are interested in supporting and encouraging women to progress to senior positions in the industry.

• The WIRe London event takes place tonight, 6.30pm-9.30pm at The Curzon Cinema in Shaftesbury Avenue. Details online at womeninresearch.com/events