A seat at the table: A look at gender diversity in the industry

This year for International Women’s Day, we check in with six women leaders in marketing, media, and advertising on their experiences and thoughts on gender equality progress, and how we can strive for a more inclusive future.

Like any industry, ensuring diversity in the marketing, media and advertising industry promotes more inclusive and representative portrayals of different gender identities and experiences. This can help to challenge harmful stereotypes, increase social awareness, and foster greater equality and respect for diverse perspectives.

Sharon Henderson, CEO and Founder of independent brand and digital agency Federation, believes that although gender diversity in the advertising space is finally flourishing, there is still a way to go.

“The truth is that gender diversity in the advertising industry has been a challenged concept.

“Historically speaking, the industry that targeted the greatest consumer in the world – women, had convinced itself that men were better at creating marketing campaigns targeting women, than women themselves.”

She offers two pieces of advice to women in the industry today, the first being ‘Believe in yourself’ and the second being ‘Invest in yourself’.

“I’d like to say to women, that at every stage of your career, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve landed your first C-Suite role, harness and nourish your self-belief. I’ve worked in roles that have really challenged and stretched me too, but these are opportunities for self-development and self-investment.”

Sales and Partnership Director, New Zealand at Vistar Media, Sandra Scott has successfully navigated the AdTech space to become a female business leader, returning to Aotearoa to lead and open Vistar Media’s on the ground New Zealand business.

She says companies can support women’s access to senior positions by providing online learning platforms and continue to address flexibility in the work place.

“That does not go just for women, but it does make life easier on those that are juggling parenting or caregiver responsibilities as well. That really helps with that retention. I sometimes get a little bit frustrated when I hear the term skills gap because I look at all the women leaders in the [Adtech] space that I know and I think ‘what skills gap?’ You know where they are, they’re certainly not unskilled, it’s just that there isn’t as many of us.”

Stuff CEO and owner Sinead Boucher has become well-known for her passion for diverse and inclusive workplaces since she famously bought the media organisation from Australian ownership for $ 1 in 2020.

She says Stuff is an organisation for all New Zealanders and as such she and the team “want to see the deep, rich diversity in our communities reflected in our workforce and our content”.

At the start of her career as a young journalist there were very few really senior women, “but the ones who were there were so inspiring and did so much to make it easier for the rest of us,” she says.

Currently Stuff is 56.5 percent female with a female majority executive team, and Boucher says it is continuing to work towards building a workforce that mirrors the population of Aotearoa.

“Diversity means much more than a gender balance. Diversity of ethnicity, of backgrounds, of experiences, background and abilities is also so important for a thriving organisation, especially one who seeks to provide something of value for all New Zealanders.”

She encourages women to “[b]e ambitious and push yourself to seek opportunities that you may not feel 100 percent qualified for, but do not put yourself in a position where you have to compromise on your values or ethics.”

Chief Executive of DDB Group Priya Patel echoes this sentiment and says the industry feels quite different to when she entered it 20 years ago.

Although there were good diverse ratios, there were few opportunities to rise to top leadership positions. “Now, I look around and see Catherine Harris at TBWA, Angela Watson at Colenso, Nikki Grafton at PHD, Fleur Head at Y&R, Lee-Ann Morris at MBM and our very own Nikki McKelvie at DDB (to name a few) and I think it’s cool to have so many smart, confident and talented women leading the country’s biggest and best media and creative agencies.”

Compared to the rest of the wider New Zealand corporate landscape “where there are more CEOs called David than there are women leaders of listed companies,” agencies are doing well she adds.

“That said, I think there is always more we can do – the fact that wage gap analysis isn’t mandatorily reported means there isn’t huge accountability to ensure we are building the next generation of female talent and creating an equitable workplace for them.”

To combat this, DDB Group has chosen to report its wage analysis and use external auditors to benchmark the agency against industry averages.

“For me, having women in leadership positions is just the beginning, and actively championing the success of many future generations of women the real goal.”

Hearts & Science ANZ CEO, Jane Stanley, agrees that although there has been improvement in terms of diversity within the marketing industry, there is still more work to be done.

“One of my first board meetings when I was a Marketing Director (and the only female on the board), I was asked to go and the coffees and the flipchart… let’s just say I replied with conviction and was never asked again for any refreshments or stationary.” 

TBWA/New Zealand Chief Executive Catherine Harris, agrees that the New Zealand advertising industry has “made good progress in recent especially around more balanced leadership teams in some agencies” but agrees there is still much work to be done particularly in the areas of representation of Māori and Pasifika women in advertising.

“We still see and hear bias, know there is significant pay inequality, and hear women being spoken about in undermining ways. We can’t fall into the trap of progress-washing, which is allowing what we have achieved to cause complacency over the real work left to do.”

She says she hopes younger women making their first steps into the industry know how important their roles as women will be in the industry.

“I also want them to know that those scary feelings we all get when we have to do hard, new, unfamiliar and difficult things are normal and necessary to learn and grow. The pursuit of excellence is fun and exciting when you know what you are prepared to work hard for, and that’s where the magic happens. Get into advertising, have strong views on what you want to impact, do it your way and make a difference.”

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