The advertising industry is famously known to thrive on fresh, bold ideas, and out-of-the-box storytelling. 

And yet, when it comes to creative leadership, it seems to be stuck in an outdated script, continuing to look like an ‘old boys club’. 

Despite years of well-meaning discussions around inclusivity and gender representation in adland, the harsh truth is that they have largely remained just that—talk. 

Women remain starkly underrepresented at the top—fewer than 20% hold creative director roles in India, mirroring a global disparity. Worryingly, with DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts on shaky ground globally, in the wake of the recent rollbacks in the US, the gap may only further widen. 

Even as we see more and more women branching out on their own to establish creative agencies in a futile bid to get past the ‘invisible barriers’ that hold them back, the questions remain: 

If advertising is supposed to reflect culture and hold up a mirror to society, then why does this imbalance persist? Does this mean that agencies do not value the female perspective? Can they even afford to do so, with nearly 50% of consumers comprising women with increasing purchase power?

We deep dive into the issue with industry leaders and women creatives, including Tista Sen, founder, Tistathinks, Binaifer Dulani, founding partner and creative, Talented, Swati Bhattacharya, global head, Godrej Creative Lab, and Vanaja Pillai, president, 22feet Tribal Worldwide & head- DEI, DDB Mudra Group.

The image of women fighting over what is their rightful place in 2025 is appalling, to say the least, says Sen, who launched her own agency Tistathinks in December 2024.

“I have said this before and I reiterate, glass ceilings can shatter; this on the other hand is a proverbial concrete block. Unfortunately for every woman vying for the top position, three men are cut out too. Take the law of averages, a generous dollop of patriarchy and that leaves women with very little elbow room,” she states.

According to Dulani, men outnumber women in leadership by around 70 to 30, and in India it’s even starker.

Stressing that it isn’t about men being ‘bad leaders’ or women being inherently better, she said, “At a macro level, we often mistake overconfidence and charisma for leadership. The real non-negotiables? Integrity, humility, and competence. And yet, decision-makers tend to hire in their image - recycling the same traits, the same voices, the same kind of people. The cycle continues.”

Bhattacharya added, “If the problem was just acute, then one could have resolved it. But because the problem is chronic, it ails every aspect of agency life.”

“As of now, more men are writing about ‘motherhood’ than women. The female perspective comes from their definition of women,” she pointed out. 

It is also a fact that during agency restructures or downsizing, women - especially those in the midst of ‘life changes’ such as return-to-work mothers, or those on maternity leave - are the first to go.

“Women are the first port of call. It’s kind of easy to explain in a boardroom and nobody questions it. Unfortunately, ageism and sexism are a big part of industry culture and while it is much talked about there is very little change,” Sen highlighted.

The creatives believe it’s a myth that needs to be busted, that women cannot keep up with the demands of the creative industry. 

They also underscore the significance of clients stepping up to advocate for more women creatives in the team, while noting that it would be good to see agencies taking the lead and making it part of their DNA, without a ‘nudge’.

Pillai acknowledges that while there has been steady progress and ‘genuine attempts by many agency networks to bridge the gap’, a lot of work remains to be done.

In the March issue of Manifest, we debate all of this and more.

To read the full feature, get your copy here!