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Female marketers make up almost half the Power 100 Next Generation list, but of Marketing's main Power 100 (Marketing, 28 July), just 19 are women. It seems there are plenty of women in junior and middle-ranking marketing roles, but few at board level, and female marketers who make it to chief executive, as Camelot's Dianne Thompson or WH Smith's Kate Swann have done, are rare indeed. The glass ceiling shows no sign of shattering.

One reason put forward for this is that many women take time out to have children. Some do not return to work, others take a career break or work part-time. But is this a life choice, or is a senior marketing role incompatible with family life?

'Put bluntly, most women don't want to go back to work in the kind of environment that gets them into the Power 100,' says Suki Thompson, managing partner of agency selection firm The Haystack Group. 'There are demanding hours and you travel extensively. You have to sacrifice a lot.'

After starting a family, women can start to question what they want from their careers. Priorities change, and becoming a high achiever at work may seem less important. 'You have to be very driven to want to juggle home life and your career,' argues Amanda Mackenzie, European vice-president of marketing at Hewlett-Packard. 'In big companies, as you become more senior, it takes a lot of persuasion to get your ideas through. A lot of people get to that stage and ask whether it is worth it.'

Similarly, Jayne O'Brien, British Airways' head of marketing for the UK and Ireland, says she has seen many bright female colleagues leave because their perspectives have changed. 'Other things become more important,' she says. 'Being a marketing director really is a full-time job, and it's very difficult for people to balance that with children.'

Ethical roles

Some women opt for a different kind of work - as a consultant, for example, or working for a company that appeals to their values. Sylvie Barr, head of marketing at Cafedirect, points out that of its 26 employees, 21 are female. Barr believes that 'ethical' companies specialising in fair trade or sustainable development may attract women because they appeal to 'nurturing and caring' instincts.

Flexibility is key for women returning to work. Haystack's Thompson, a mother of two, believes that running her own company has made a good work-life balance more easily achievable. Bigger organisations can also offer a more family-friendly environment. According to Cath Keers, customer director at O2, the mobile operator has been 'incredibly flexible' about letting people work remotely, using technology such as mobile email. Perhaps it is no coincidence that many of her team are female.

Even if they negotiate flexible hours and childcare, working mothers can still be hampered by an environment in which working late is admired and attending evening social events is important. 'Visibility is an issue,' says Camelot's Thompson. 'You need to be seen to be around and working hard.'

While several female marketers say they avoid evening networking, Thompson is one who still believes it is crucial. 'I think it's about prioritising,' she adds. 'There are some things you really must do, and others that are just nice to do.'

When women do choose to continue up the corporate ladder after starting a family, it can take them time to settle back into working life. Nicola Mendelsohn, deputy chairman of Grey London and mother of three, points out that returning to work after having children can make women feel less confident and less likely to push for promotion. 'You can feel as if the jury's out when you come back, until you prove yourself,' she says.

There is also the issue of timing. Karen Thomson, chief executive of AOL, says that studying for an MBA moved her career onto the next level, but the life-stage at which people seek this important qualification may also be when women decide to take time off to have children, leaving them without key skills. 'Marketers stay specialised at a younger age; it's tough to reach the next level,' she says. 'As you become more senior, you talk to financial or legal people, so you have to be able to speak their language.'

Unwitting discrimination

These days, old-fashioned sexism is rare in the marketing world; none of the Power 100 women interviewed here believes their sex has been a barrier to their career. Yet there are degrees of discrimination. Mackenzie points out that workplaces can often promote a male working culture without realising it. For this reason, Hewlett-Packard has a policy of encouraging each team to include women in everything they do, even when they are simply going out for a drink after work. 'It's about creating an environment in which women are comfortable to be themselves,' she says.

Mackenzie believes that initiatives such as the 2003 Higgs Report on non-executive directors, which has helped highlight the issue of diversity in general, has made it more likely for women to be considered for top roles. 'It is human nature that we recruit in our own image. It takes a lot of emotional sophistication to do something different,' she adds.

Most senior women agree that attitudes are changing rapidly. Companies are being forced to become more flexible - otherwise they risk losing bright women to home life or to a company that offers a better working environment.

Employers are also realising the importance of including a female point of view at a high level - particularly in marketing. 'Businesses where the majority of customers are women really value having a woman on the board,' says Camelot's Thompson, citing her experience as a non-executive director at companies including the RAC.

Thompson is a strong believer that the senior women in the industry should encourage others trying to make their way up the career ladder. To this end, she has invited all 19 women in the Power 100 to meet each other over dinner. 'What I have learned over the years is that top-level women really are role models to those coming through, and we must act as mentors,' she explains.

Organisations such as WACL (Women in Advertising and Communications London), of which Thompson is vice-president, have done much to pave the way for women in the industry. But there is still plenty to be done on the networking front. 'There are plenty of boys' clubs, but only one WACL,' points out Mendelsohn.

AOL's Thomson believes that to address the issue properly, men need to be part of the debate. 'There are lots of networking events that are for women only, and that's great; but this tends to be looked at exclusively as an issue for women,' she says. 'Most of the senior people putting women into jobs are men - and until it's an issue men talk about, nothing is going to happen.'

If the glass ceiling is truly to be shattered, it must be done so from above as well as below.

WOMEN IN POWER 100

Name Power 100 Company

ranking

Tessa Jowell 3 Government

Dianne Thompson 6 Camelot

Kate Swann 20 WH Smith

Sara Weller 22 Argos

Amanda Mackenzie 34 Hewlett-Packard

Charlotte Oades 39 Coca-Cola

Cath Keers 48 O2

Lorraine Twohill 53 Google

Jayne O'Brien 56 British Airways

Zoe Morgan 57 Co-op

Alison Copus 59 Virgin Atlantic

Sophie Gasperment 65 L'Oreal

Sly Bailey 66 Trinity Mirror

Karen Thomson 73 AOL

Helen Ganczacowski 82 Lever Faberge

Suki Thompson 83 Haystack Group

Fru Hazlitt 88 Yahoo!

Jacqui Hill 90 Lever Faberge

Sylvie Barr 98 Cafedirect