- Some recent women-centric campaigns have challenged the stereotypical portrayal of women and ingrained misogyny of the society. However, we have a long way to go.
- According to a study by the Credit Suisse Research Institute conducted in 2019, India is near the bottom of the rankings for female representation at senior management levels. And lesser the women in boardrooms, lesser the representation in ads.
- We speak to the women leaders of the advertising industry such as Kinetic’s Rachana Lokhande, The Viral Fever’s Sarjita Jain and Dentsu Webchutney’s Pragati Rana to understand how we can break this
glass ceiling and decrease the pay gap.
As per a research conducted by Engendered, none of the top companies have more than 42% female employees. It suggests that Swiggy doesn’t have a single woman in their top management team. ICICI, on the other hand, only has 4%.
According to another study by the Credit Suisse Research Institute conducted in 2019, India is near the bottom of the rankings for female representation at senior management levels amongst other countries. It was ranked 23rd on the list. And lesser the women in boardrooms, lesser their representation in ads.
It was only in the late 20’s that brands started portraying women in roles other than domestic buyer and home-maker. From Nirma to Nike, we have come a long way. However, our ads still lack variety. We are still represented as someone’s wife or mother.
To understand this evolution, we spoke to some prominent women leaders from the advertising and media industry such as Rachana Lokhande, Co-CEO, Kinetic India, Sarjita Jain - Channel Head, Girliyapa, The Viral Fever, and Pragati Rana, AVP, Strategy, Dentsu Webchutney.
The women leaders highlighted how power dynamics play a subtle role in the industry, why more women don’t make it to the top, brands that have changed the narrative, and how we can further improve the representation of women in advertisements.