Kaitlyn Chang // Accenture Interactive

The Swan Lake Syndrome

The case of the disappearing women and what creatives can do about it.

53% of all graphic designers are women, but only 11% of creative directors are women.
Even in the creative industry, the higher up the career ladder, the older they become, women somehow disappear. Why is that so? Do we, women, somehow become less creative when we get older and have babies, while men don’t? Why is it so common to penalize women who became mothers, while men who became fathers aren’t?

Kaitlyn Chang from Accenture Interactive calls the reason for this the Swan Lake Syndrome – the collective bias / assumptions the society unfairly places on gender roles, and our attempt to fulfill it in vain. As an internationally recognized female leader in the creative industry who has also just become a new mom at the age of 41, Kaitlyn will talk about ways to smash these stereotypes – not just as individuals, but as a conscious group of creatives who realize how much we shape and influence what people, and especially children, see, read, hear and consume on a daily basis.