Women and the Changing Face of the Advertising Industry

Advertising Women of New York marked the 100th anniversary of its founding, as the League of Advertising Women of New York, with two events: a breakfast, attended by about 200 people, and a luncheon, attended by more than 500. “When AWNY was founded, women could not vote,” Laura Desmond, chief executive of the Starcom MediaVest Group unit of the Publicis Groupe, said in introductory remarks at the breakfast. The organization began in 1912 with 40 members, she said, growing to 550 in 1962 and more than 1,700 now. “I would like to see, 10 years from now, that number double,” Ms. Desmond said, to help AWNY “serve as a catalyst for women in the communications field.” “The legacy, 10 years from now, 25 years from now, is in this room,” she added. “We have to keep paying it forward.” Desmond then joined a panel discussing such questions as whether female executives were more reluctant to take prime roles in industry conferences than their male counterparts.