Engineering is among the most male-dominated workforces in America. As of 2023, solely 16% of all engineers within the U.S. had been ladies. Marketing, in the meantime, is an trade led by ladies: Although it has a extra even break up, the sector nonetheless employs extra ladies than males, with 60% of marketing roles in the U.S. being held by women.
However a phenomenon in new job listings has some specialists questioning if advertising and marketing is present process a reinvention—one designed to make it a extra attractive discipline for males.
The discourse started when brand consultant Miranda Shanahan identified a development she’s seen on LinkedIn. “I’m satisfied advertising and marketing jobs are being rebranded in order that boys can do it too,” Shanahan said in a video that’s garnered 1 million views on TikTok.
“We’re instantly seeing the identical outdated advertising and marketing roles being given new, technical-coded names,” she mentioned, referencing open positions on LinkedIn with titles like “senior branding engineer,” “advertising and marketing engineer,” and “GTM (or go-to-market) engineer.”
What are these jobs really searching for from candidates? Quizlet’s listing for a “UGC (or user-generated content) engineer” mentions main a workforce of creators, directing content material technique, and having a “deep understanding of viral content material and traits,” all duties sometimes related to advertising and marketing roles greater than engineering roles.
Baseten’s “content engineer” role is famous to be “a primarily technical writing place.” In the meantime, Stable’s first-ever “growth engineer” shall be accountable for information evaluation, focused outreach, and managing its advertising and marketing belongings. Many of those roles even have software program engineering and net design parts.
Is that this historical past repeating itself?
Shanahan mentioned the scenario reminded her of what occurred to programming within the mid-Twentieth century. What started as a woman-dominated discipline underwent a cultural rebrand after the invention of the private laptop, with fewer ladies pursuing laptop science within the years that adopted.
“Software program was feminized when it was thought-about clerical, masculinized when it turned excessive standing,” Shanahan defined. “Advertising and marketing was feminized when it was ‘making issues fairly.’ Now, advertising and marketing is being masculinized as a result of AI has made it so anybody can code, and now the most important drawback is distribution.”
“This technical language is being utilized to earn respect with management, with out contemplating what which means for who these roles may go to and who feels certified to use,” she concluded.
After all, jobs don’t have genders, and there are already many males in advertising and marketing and many ladies in engineering.
However given the fields’ notable gender gaps, an obvious rebrand that may make advertising and marketing seem “manlier” is prompting examination.
‘So backwards’: Social media is break up on the take
The video shortly unfold throughout social media. Many customers on X echoed Shanahan’s sentiment and added their very own proof. “Somebody at ramp as soon as advised me ‘progress is advertising and marketing when males do it,’” one user recalled.
“It’s onerous to search out jobs which can be really in my discipline,” another user lamented, “as a result of they’ve began utilizing tech buzzwords for job descriptions to make males really feel like they’re doing one thing when it’s actually only a position that may beforehand be like a secretary or one thing.”
Journalist Taylor Lorenz additionally cosigned Shanahan’s take. “They’re calling social media managers ‘progress engineers’ now,” Lorenz wrote. “She’s 100% spot on with this evaluation.”
However others mentioned the video had issues all unsuitable. One dissenter was Julia Pintar, cofounder of UGC firm Playkit, who mentioned she coined the time period UGC engineer and that Shanahan’s take is “so backwards.”
“We name it this as a result of distribution is integral to an organization’s success – it’s a giant time job,” Pintar posted. “The nomenclature provides these roles the integrity that they deserve – we will’t win the gender battle if we refuse to be equal.”
“The rationale why job titles have modified just isn’t as a result of males now do the roles ladies had been doing & subsequently [it’s] referred to as ‘engineering’ now,” another user argued, mentioning that many start-ups now incorporate coding into their advertising and marketing workflows. “That type of work has historically been referred to as engineering, so the title has merely modified to replicate the evolution of the position itself.”
