RAPP's continued commitment to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion not only shows through their work, but through their teams as well. We had the opportunity to chat with Allison Gilbert, Associate Director of DE&I at RAPP US/UK, about challenging the barriers women still face in our industry through bold and systemic action.
Can you tell us a bit about your role and your journey to arriving there?
I’m an associate director of DEI with RAPP UK and US. My role is quite broad and varied, which is great for someone like me. In the simplest terms, I am responsible for creating belonging. I imagine a diverse and inclusive future for our culture, operations and work — then I come up with equity plans towards that vision and set them into motion. My job requires me to push the boundaries of the existing systems and structures of today and help all our people to take ownership of their accountability as media and culture makers.
I’ve taken what many might call a “winding path,” but in some ways I think I was preparing for the day when diversity, equity and inclusion was going to land more squarely on the business agenda. I could write a book about my journey, but to be more succinct, I got my professional start as an intern. Then Community Organizer for NARAL Pro-Choice New Hampshire, which formed the foundation for my experience and thinking about intersectionality, community-building and action, education and experience with having challenging conversations. I’ve subsequently worn many hats and did a couple of super challenging and inspiring degrees, which I draw on all the time.
Being the activist I am, I couldn’t help but agitate and advocate for DEI issues in my day-to-day professional life. Over time, the conversation continued to grow and expand so that my role has recently become 100% DEI-focused, which is deliciously exciting.
What barriers do women still face in our industry and how can we challenge them?
I think the barriers are largely the same in any industry and all require bold and systemic action. For me, the biggest and most glaring is changing our policies surrounding the way we work. Ultimately, we need gender equality at home to get gender equality at work and in the wider world. Our culture and economy are predicated on giving women a zero-sum game that produce and entrench sexist biases in all sorts of ways. The good news is businesses have all of the resources to do something about it.
The gender pay gap sets in during normative child-bearing years for women and never recovers — it only continues to widen. Unequal parental leave sets the conditions where one parent’s career is set up for de-prioritization and the other’s is set up to be more viable for security and a trajectory of progression. Since the burden of pregnancy largely falls on women, it ends up being women who more often face career de-prioritization at home when caring responsibilities kick-in. Of course, flexibility at work is super helpful, but it fails to do all the heavy lifting.
One of the single most impactful things businesses can prioritize is moving parental leave policies off the gender binary entirely. Anyone who chooses to become a parent should be guaranteed equal time at home to co-parent in patterns that work for both partners. Anyone who chooses to become a parent should be equally liable for taking the same amount of time from their career to do so to keep the playing field level. And we need to give women a fair choice about staying in their careers by subsidizing childcare so that all parents can enjoy and save their earnings.
How do you use your position to build equitable teams that are diverse and balanced?
My role is to create safety and belonging for the biggest and broadest range of makeup and experiences possible. Success requires me to take numerous approaches all at once — identifying and dismantling barriers while taking people on a journey and constantly staying up to date with where the conversations around DEI, intersectionality and public affairs are going.
I feel my purpose in this regard is to help others learn from new and uncomfortable angles and to change their outlook and behaviors accordingly while also changing the way we work to create belonging and progression for talent with marginalized backgrounds.
My advice for anyone who is leading a team that wants to foster diversity, equity and inclusion — accept your ignorance first and foremost because we all have it and it’s nothing to judge. You won’t be open to properly growing without this. Then listen to yourself and others actively, seek out new information and experiences and take what you learn on board. Embrace the future and new ways of doing things. Collaborate. Learn from your and others’ mistakes and celebrate everyone’s successes. Do not buy into the myth of scarcity — we live in a time where there are more billionaires than ever before. There isn’t scarcity, just a better way we could be giving and receiving. Prioritize people and the planet because what use is profit if we’re all dead?
Who are your female advertising icons/role models and why?
To be honest, I don’t feel I have any in the industry and I think given the kind of role I’m in, that’s probably a good thing. That said, I’d say I’m grateful for Cindy Gallop for saying exactly what she thinks without apology, backing herself up and working to make media, sex and culture better.