I used to work in a media and broadcast company. Most creative departments I came across were mostly female. Publicity, marketing, demo artists, huge female representation. Not so much in the bosses, but certainly throughout all the other creative departments.
I’m trying to give you a perspective from the inside of a current ad agency. The article specifically mentions ad campaigns and why it’s possible that advertisers are guilty/responsible for the lack of female photographers or sexism in commercial advertising shots.
I cannot say which creative departments you’re talking about but i’m specifically talking about UK ad agencies. I’ve been in the business for over 20 years and it’s probably ‘better’ now than it ever was, and in our currentl department of 42 there are 7 women.
My previous agency was much smaller and in 7 creatives, there was 1 woman.
My previous one to that was a lot bigger - probably about the size of the agency i’m at now - and there were just two.
The one before that, in a creative dept of around 50 I can only think of four female creatives.
My first agency, there were none.
I also had placements at some of the big agencies of the 90s. Saatchi and Saatchi, Leo Burnett, GGT, Simons Palmer. In almost every instance women were in the account management and planning depts, but rarely in creative roles. And in every agency I’ve been in, not a single one had a woman in charge of the creative department.
Also, for the record, they’re mostly white too.