Gender diversity in the leadership ranks of Australian creative agencies is an ongoing challenge with many tackling it in their own way.
The majority of agencies AdNews spoke to are currently sitting at, or are striving for, a 50/50 gender split.
Some creative agencies, such as Ogilvy, BMF, TBWA and Publicis, have more women than men in leadership positions.
Historically, limited parental leave, long working hours and a lack of flexible working practices have presented barriers and limited opportunities for women entering the industry, as well as contributed to a high rate of attrition as women drop out.
Today the majority of agencies recognise the industry’s diversity issue isn’t as simple as hiring women in senior positions but also about taking a long-term approach to support in career journeys by creating more pathways.
From ambitious targets and data tracking to comprehensive mentoring programs and policies, agencies are not just talking about diversity - they’re acting on it.
Long-term data from the Advertising Council of Australia’s Salary Survey highlights progress with women in senior management roles increasing to 42% in 2023 from 22% in 2017.
At the same time women in senior creative roles have grown to 27% from 17%.
Female representation in creative departments rose to 41% in 2023 from 30% in 2017, while women in the industry increased to 57% from 52%.
ACA also creates pathways for women to leadership roles, for instance over the past seven years AWARD Creative Leadership has equipped more than 40 women with essential leadership skills.
In just over 10 years, AWARD School has achieved a shift in gender diversity, with female winners increasing from about 20% to 50%.
However, the inaugural Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) report this year - which tracks gender pay gap - showed there was still a lot of work to be done for the industry.
Independent agency Howatson+Company received the poorest WGEA gender pay gap earlier this year.
However, the latest data from Howatson+Company shows women received 78% of recent promotions.
In creative five of eight hires this year were females and in the last 12 months 100% of technology hires have been female, bringing total headcount in tech to 46% females.
“While our agency leadership has equal gender representation, our creative and technology departments are disproportionately led by males,” a Howatson+Company spokesperson told AdNews.
Further agency data shows leadership is 50/50, in the creative department leadership level is 40/60 (female/male) in the tech department leadership is 40/60 (female/male).
The agency also has initiatives to support, for example via Mums in advertising (MIA) the agency advertises 'part time negotiable' roles – and have 6 females who choose to work part time as a result.
Some agencies are still behind but are actively working to change.
Accenture Song has set goals to advance gender equality, and is aiming to achieve gender parity by 2025.
This year the group launched “Femme Den” across Australia and NZ, which is a safe space for women of Song to share their thoughts, feelings and ideas and accelerate change.
“We gave women and gender diverse people a platform and community to have real, human conversations and experiences. Ultimately, our goal was to capture and communicate the bottom-up consensus to drive top-down action,” a Accenture spokesperson told AdNews.
At Clemenger Group - which includes CHEP Network, Clemenger BBDO, Colsendo, Marketforce and a slew of specialised agencies - half of its board comprises female leaders across Australia and New Zealand with 10 of its individual companies led by women.
While appointing talented females is important, it doesn't fully address the scarcity of female leaders across the industry, Clemenger Group chief people officer Raj Tapper told AdNews.
“Redressing the historical imbalance requires more than ‘equal’ access. ‘Equity,’ on the other hand, is about recognising the barriers and obstacles an individual has had to overcome,” Tapper said.
“It’s about placing a value on the smarts and resilience it has taken to keep going, and not waiting until all the more obvious boxes have been ticked. This is why women make up over half of our leadership development programs – we’re recognising the journey they’ve been on and investing in their future potential.”
Clemenger refreshed its mentoring program in 2024 and prioritised female talent by ensuring all mentors from its executive management team were matched with emerging female leaders - this year 75% of its mentees are women.
Clemenger’s cohort from its flagship week-long intensive leadership program at Melbourne Business School was also half women.
Ogilvy has made huge strides in its gender diversity with 85% of creative leadership positions held by women.
Three years ago, 39% of Ogilvy’s senior leadership positions were held by women. In 2024, that has shifted to 61% now held by women.
Several years ago when the industry launched Changing The Face, Ogilvy put a spotlight on the (un) surprisingly homogenous face of creative leadership in Australia, Ogilvy Network ANZ CEO Sally Kissane said.
“We immediately made a commitment to hold our own agency to account… since then, we’ve made significant shifts,” Kissane told AdNews.
“We have a female CEO, managing director, managing partner, Group managing director of health and chief strategy officer among others. We have female ECDs within all our ANZ offices including Health plus a female chief creative officer within PR.”
Ogilvy’s initiatives include formal and informal mentoring programs, a revamped parental leave policy and continuous unconscious bias training.
“We know from experience it takes time and commitment. And we’re proud of how far we’ve come. We also recognise that there’s an ongoing, and important industry agenda to address which we welcome, knowing we can take part only if we are addressing representation within our own business,” Kissane said.
Publicis Groupe measures gender diversity through a comprehensive data-driven approach, ensuring transparency and accountability.
The company has aligned its targets with the Global Women’s recommendation of the 40/40/20 framework - with 40% women, 40% men and 20% flexibility for either gender in leadership roles.
Specifically for creative agencies 60% of leaders are female, senior management is 40% female, 50% male and 10% other.
“The aim for the organisation would be 40 F/40 M/20 O framework, but like many others in our industry, our senior creative representation continues to be a challenge,” Publicis chief talent officer APAC & ANZ Pauly Grant told AdNews.
“The good news is that we are seeing a generational shift in gender balance with Millennial and Gen Z females representing 52% of our creative people due to a clear commitment around changing the overall diversity,” Grant said.
Publicis is also committed to enhancing career development by promoting internal mobility opportunities. In 2023, 54% of career moves within the company involved women.
“Our Connected Careers program further supports this initiative by providing one-on-one career coaching and development, with 83% of participants in 2023 being women,” Grant said.
BMF’s approach to diversity isn’t just a “nice to have” but is essential to the agency’s success.
“For us, tracking progress isn’t about hitting quotas … and our commitment to diversity doesn’t stop at gender,” a BMF spokesperson told AdNews.
“We know that world-class creativity and effectiveness comes from having diverse perspectives and voices.”
With 64% female gender split across the agency, the leadership team sitting at 60% female, while 61% of those who hold senior positions are female.
The agency also has a 25% LGBTQI representation in its senior leadership team.
In its creative department, 56% identify as female or non-binary, and 100% of its creative teams are mixed-gender.
BMF’s initiatives reflect a broader commitment to diversity, particularly its ‘flex for success’ approach which allows employees to work in ways that best suit their needs, whether hybrid, flex, part-time or remote.
Currently 13% of its female employees, including leaders, are on formal flexible arrangements, whilst four of our male employees work part-time to co-care for their families.
“Whilst that number is small, we believe that for women and men to shape the careers and work lives they want, flexible working needs to be normalised and modelled without compromise to career development and progression, no matter what gender,” the BMF spokesperson said.
VML in Australia maintains a fairly balanced representation with Female 50% F and 50% M in leadership, 60% F and 40% M in management and 58% F and 42% M in professional.
Enhancing transparency in performance evaluations, further refined with the introduction of its career progression tool called THRIVE has seen success for the agency.
THRIVE empowers individuals to cultivate their personal brand while exploring their goals, aspirations, passion areas, and career advancement opportunities at VML and within the industry.
At Havas Host the agency is tackling parental leave, long working hours and flexible working arrangements in its policies, drawing on data from exit interviews to inform their Action Plan aimed at boosting gender diversity across all levels.
Havas also places a strong emphasis on the power of mentorship, citing The Aunties—a program designed to support women in creative leadership—as an example of how learning from diverse voices can make a tangible difference in career progression.
“I’m committed to paying it forward and holding the door open for the next wave of female creatives, through ensuring they have the support and opportunities they need to rise and fulfil their potential,” Havas Host CEO Gayle While told AdNews.
“Clients also play a key role in our ability to implement flexible working and to drive gender balance. It’s something we’re discussing with key clients as our effectiveness in meeting our intentions around work/life balance can be affected by the requirements and actions of our clients.”
TBWA ANZ’s workforce is made up of 60% women with 62% holding executive leadership positions.
But the agency also invests in several learning, development and apprenticeship pathways to ensure diversity in the longer term.
One example is its creative leadership program Master Gunners creative leadership program, where every year the agency gathers the best up and coming creative talent across the network and provides leadership training, executive coaching and development with a global team of CCOs, CEOs and business leaders.
“It’s a win-win — fostering growth across our industry while empowering our people personally and professionally Day to day we run a ‘support and challenge’ system to make sure our creative leaders have both space to run, and the support to get there should they need it,” TBWA ANZ president and regional CEO Paul Bradbury told AdNews.
“Our Fresh Fries apprenticeship program is also purposely open to all walks of life, with no experience or education necessary.”
For Thinkerbell CEO Margie Reid measuring, monitoring and consulting its team on gender diversity has been a personal focus of her as CEO of one of Australia's largest creative companies in the country.
“We already have training and development plans in place and a balanced gender pay parity, but need to continue to ensure there are pathways for females to continue to grow and lead in senior roles; as well as development plans for each of our people,” Reid told AdNews.
“The recent discussions have shone a light on the industry wide issue of gender imbalance within creative departments. It’s always positive to shine a light on this ongoing issue in our industry.
“Thinkerbell welcomes discussion that leads to everyone contributing ideas and thoughts on how to build a better workplace for the future, including creating more progression opportunities for everybody.”
Special is led by a female CEO and three female managing directors, with females representing over 50% of leadership positions and made up of over 60% female employees across Sydney, Tokyo and Melbourne.
The agency continues to increase its female representation in creative roles, promoting two women in group creative director positions and adding five female creatives to its department over the last 12 months.
Looking beyond just the agency, Special managing directors Tori Lopez and Lauren Portelli said they see equal access to impactful projects as crucial across the industry—not just for gender diversity but for all kinds of voices.
“Our approach includes supporting diverse representation in production bids, partnering with the Dylan Alcott Foundation to create a more inclusive future, continuing to champion and improve our parental leave policies, flexible working arrangements, and prioritising recruitment and promotion opportunities for women,” Lopez and Portelli told AdNews.
“Our clients support diverse representation in their projects, holding us accountable to these standards, and we are really proud when suggestions come from within the business, and our team calls out our blind spots.
“We’re by no means perfect and we certainly don’t have all the answers, but we are committed to helping define what diversity truly means at Special and within our industry.”
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