With mobile gaining more recognition within the larger advertising and marketing ecosystem, it is imperative that more women executives enter the industry. Indeed, there are still too few women in mobile advertising, marketing, media and commerce.

We make that claim having honored our third batch last year of mobile women executives in Mobile Women to Watch 2013. The 2014 list will honor 25 women who are set to make a difference next year in mobile advertising, marketing, media and commerce.

While that observation of inadequate female executives in mobile is anecdotal for the lack of any industry-reported data of employee rolls comprising men, women and minorities, it is obvious from attending the countless mobile conferences that the male-female ratio is skewed more in favor of John than Jane.

That feeling is confirmed even as this publication conducts its daily business of interviewing key executives in mobile advertising, marketing and media. Not only are there few women mobile marketers, but there are fewer women CEOs leading mobile agencies, mobile marketing firms, mobile publishers and mobile ad networks.

Indeed, it seems that women in mobile are mostly limited to public relations and marketing roles. Few hold technology, finance or operational positions.

So can it be said without antagonizing some? There is still a glass ceiling in mobile advertising, marketing and media.

Or if there is no glass ceiling, then not enough is being done to attract smart women executives to work in the fastest-growing segment of marketing worldwide.

Why X-Y
There may be several reasons to explain the industry tilt toward men.

Mobile marketing as we know it is fairly nascent, having taken off only with the emergence of cross-carrier SMS acceptance and the introduction of smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and the newer Android, Microsoft Windows Phone and BlackBerry models, as well as tablets from Apple, Samsung, Google, Motorola and Microsoft.

Add to that the fact that mobile marketing was born of the larger wireless industry, itself a haven of technologists.

If mobile marketing does not have its fair share of women executives, then the technology side of the wireless industry is even worse. A walk through any carrier-focused CTIA conference will confirm that it is heavily male-dominated.

Third, the mobile marketing industry has not grown to the size where constituent companies can have active programs to recruit women and minorities. Perhaps now is a good time to start, given that many Fortune 500 companies have already begun running mobile campaigns and, sooner or later, will turn them into mobile programs that integrate with larger multichannel marketing efforts.

Finally, there may not be enough awareness among women marketers of the attractiveness of a career in mobile advertising, marketing and media. Let it be said that mobile has the potential to change the world of marketing, media and commerce in the next decade the way the computer-based Internet did in this decade and the one before.

It is not this publication?s intention to suggest affirmative action. Indeed, when hiring, may the best candidate win. But it would help if mobile marketing would represent the larger world where the male-female ratio is almost evenly split.

Nota bene
To kick-start this process, we welcome nominations of women mobile marketers who represent the best that marketing has to offer ? intelligence, ambition, customer focus and team spirit. Those nominees who make the cut will be featured in a Classic Guide produced later this fall called ?Mobile Women to Watch 2014.? Additionally, they will be honored at the first annual Mobile Women to Watch Summit, an event aimed to acknowledge all established and up-and-coming women in the mobile industry, which will be held on November 5, 2013 in New York.

Please email  with a 100-word case for why that particular woman candidate was nominated, citing her key mobile accomplishments and potential as role model. If the nominee is selected, then she will be profiled with a sketch of her job responsibilities and accomplishments, along with her photograph.

Some basic rules are thus.

Candidates cannot nominate themselves. Nominees must hold positions of responsibility. All nomination write-ups must be sent in a Word document, including the names, phone numbers and email addresses of the nominee and her direct superior and a client or colleague for interviewing purposes. The email itself should be headlined ?Mobile Women to Watch 2014? in the subject header.

Also, nominees will make the cut based on shown prowess at work, career achievements and interviews with them, nomination supporters and industry peers. The editorial team?s decision is final.

All nominations must be in before Sept. 18. Only 25 executives will make it to Mobile Women to Watch 2014.

The idea behind this exercise is to get the women mobile marketers out there to stand up and be counted. They must serve as role models for women from other industries to want to come and shape marketing?s future through mobile.