How to fix adland's motherhood crisis

The glitz and glamour of Asia Pacific's advertising scene masks a harsh reality: a systemic crisis that’s bleeding talent and stifling creativity. Our previous Sounding Board exposed gender parity's gaping hole. Now, we confront the next layer: the motherhood exodus. 

While advertising is a dynamic and vibrant industry in the region, a stark truth remains: motherhood is a career killer. And the numbers don't lie.

According to the Cannes Lions Global Creativity Report, a paltry 11% of creative directors globally are women—a figure likely even lower across the APAC region. Create Space Census (run by the Advertising Council of Australia) found that mothers make up only 10% of creative departments in a market as saturated as Australia. A mass exodus occurs around age 35, mirroring the onset of motherhood. 23% of mothers with childcare responsibilities feel excluded, discriminated against, and are considering leaving.

Advertising, notorious for its long hours and lack of female leadership, can be particularly daunting for mothers, presenting several barriers to staying in the industry. This isn't a discussion about ‘work-life balance’, a tired phrase that often masks a lack of genuine commitment to change. This is about dismantling the systemic structures that actively marginalise mothers and bleed the industry of creative minds.

Campaign Asia-Pacific asks industry leaders to outline systemic changes that will prevent this mid-career exodus.

 

Sean Donovan
President, TBWA Asia
 

This issue is deeply personal for me. My wife, in a different industry, was forced to choose between motherhood and her career. It’s a painful reality that too many women still face, and it’s unacceptable.

The industry needs to drive a culture that sees people as multifaceted human beings, not just the titles they hold. We all wear multiple hats, and those roles constantly overlap between the personal and professional. This needs to be normalised. Mothers should never feel guilty for prioritising their children—whether that means dashing off to school for an emergency or working from home when their child has a fever.

But it doesn’t stop there. We need to be visible about the challenges working mothers face—and talk about them openly. At TBWA Hakuhodo, initiatives like Peace Pirates shine a direct spotlight on inclusion, with messages coming from senior leadership. It’s crucial that leaders at the top set the tone. I’m also incredibly proud of our Asia CMO, Ellie Brocklehurst, whose podcast, The Full Timers Club, tackles this issue head-on. The more we discuss these challenges, the more we can bring forth real change.

But we can’t just support mothers in our own industry. We need to support their partners, too. Offering partner leave and flexibility is important to ensure caregiving doesn’t fall disproportionately on mothers. If we don’t support the whole family unit, we’re only addressing part of the problem. In short, this isn’t just about making minor adjustments. It’s about a fundamental shift in building a culture that genuinely supports working mothers, and it starts with leadership being willing to change the system. 

Soo Hee Yang

Chief creative officer, Publicis Groupe Korea

 

For me, building a creative career as a mom is more like running a marathon, not a 100-meter sprint. Even if we solve one problem, new ones will always follow. Therefore, rather than aiming for a one-time solution, I believe it’s essential to help women develop the long-term perseverance and self-confidence it takes to rise to leadership positions.

 

Many agencies strive to offer better work-life balance through workplace flexibility, parental leave policies and support networks. Female creatives, however, often put too much pressure on themselves to appear ‘perfect’ or over-analyse themselves unnecessarily. This mindset can be an obstacle to their career growth and development, and for those who also feel overwhelmed by family responsibilities, there are many viable alternatives to our industry.

 

Agencies must do more to help foster a growth mindset that encourages female creatives to focus on progress over perfection. We must nurture their determination to stay on their chosen path and give them the confidence to take ownership of their careers. Developing follow-through career plans, which begin with nurturing young female creatives and evolve to support them at all life milestones, including motherhood, will create a culture that celebrates and champions all creatives, including women.

 

Michael Titshall

APAC CEO, RGA

 

Defaulting back to the norm of five days a week in offices won’t help us make progress. That structure was designed for a society that expected two parents in the household, with one working and one staying at home. That is not the world we live in now. Embracing hybrid work and designing flexible days that accommodate life’s demands—like being offline for school pickups—enables both personal and commercial success. For many, the decision to return to work is weighed up against high childcare costs and whether the extra pressure is even worth it. Options like a 9-day fortnight, 4-day weeks or off-line periods in the day can make a big difference. We need to build cultures where flexibility is openly discussed, overwork isn’t worn as a badge of honour and people feel free to parent loudly, without hiding or apologising for family responsibilities.

 

Ongoing unconscious bias training can be valuable for everyone, particularly for male leaders, as it offers them practical ways to actively support women in their teams, especially during key career and life stages. But, even more important, is seeking advice and guidance from a diverse, gender-balanced group, as no amount of training can substitute for lived experience. Getting to know and engaging with female talent at all levels is key; talk to them, understand their priorities, listen to their perspectives. Building allyship often needs focused learning so it becomes second nature. Encouraging leaders to understand the unique challenges women face makes biases easier to recognise and address. Senior leaders also play a crucial role here. When leaders, especially men, visibly support and advocate for women, it sets a positive tone across the organisation.

 

Recognition gaps in the creative industry are a real issue. Research from the Geena Davis Institute shows that male creatives often get higher ratings for similar contributions, which can seriously affect their career growth and rewards. To tackle this, we really need to switch to a fairer system that focuses on data-driven performance assessments—quantifiable metrics like productivity levels, project completion rates, and quality of work. By integrating these metrics with 360-degree reviews that involve diverse talent from multiple levels, rather than just a few senior leaders making the calls, we can minimise subjectivity and bias. We’ll end up with a clearer and fairer picture of everyone’s contributions, encouraging transparency, and also nurturing a culture focused on talent development.

 

Merlee Jayme
Chairmom/founder, TheMisfitsCamp.com

 

Mothers of all ages are the world’s number one target market—they buy everything from personal care to food and household products and everything in between. They not only buy for themselves but also make decisions for their entire families. Mums in the creative industry, or creative mums, as I'd like to call them, have a deep, intuitive understanding of this psyche, allowing them to create deeply engaging, relevant, and mindful campaigns. And yet, we don’t value them enough.

This industry needs to wake up. We should be celebrating, encouraging, and investing in creative moms—giving them the accommodations, benefits, and support they deserve. Why? Because they’re already the experts when it comes to understanding the most important consumer demographic.

But let’s get one thing straight: there’s no such thing as 'balancing' motherhood and a career in advertising. Both are 24/7 jobs. The secret isn’t balance—it’s integration. For me, that meant weaving my roles as a mother and as a creative seamlessly. I moved my home close to work so I could be there for dinner, help with homework, put my kids to bed, and then return to the office if needed. It was never easy, but I made it work only because of the support system I had.

Support is key—and not just from family, but from the agency and industry. My husband and I had an agreement: if one of us had to travel, the other stayed with the kids. If I had a pitch or a late-night deadline, my mom would step in, and at one point, even my dad helped by taking the girls to school. My family cheered me on because they understood that I wasn’t just working for myself—I was fighting to succeed in an industry that often makes it impossible for mothers to thrive.

And that’s the crux of the problem. The system is broken. Long hours, a lack of female leadership, and exclusionary practices are pushing mothers out of the industry before they ever get the chance to reach leadership roles.

 

Regina Stroombergen and Julia Spencer

Founders, Mums In Ads

 

Motherhood stigma is real. If, as a woman, you felt mostly unseen in the creative department—add in a nine-month gestation period, and you’ll find you become completely invisible. Because mums are frumpy, boring and uncool—right? 

 

Then there’s the motherhood penalty—which is not unique to the creative department or the advertising industry. What is unique to our industry, however, is purporting to be progressive and creative while being neither in the face of such a huge problem that does not belong in 2024. 

 

With mothers making the vast percentage of all purchasing decisions, the fact that most creative departments have few, if any, is just bad business. 

 

Instead of shrugging as creative women leave one after the other, perhaps as an industry, we should ask them what they need to stay—and go from there. When this happens, everyone, including men, will start to enjoy a brand new way of existing in this industry that will allow us to thrive and create as 360-degree humans.  

Lauren Eddy

Creative, The Aunties & senior copywriter, Bullfrog

 

In theory, everyone wants to see more mums in creative departments. But in practice, very few agencies are willing to commit to the supportive and flexible working environments that parents need. 

 

Our society is still built to assume that one parent will always be available for school pick-ups, sick days, and whatever else comes up. So, until they change the standard workday from 9-5 to 10-3 (surely AI can do the rest?), we're going to need that always-on support from agency leaders. All it takes is some mindful planning, open communication, and a bit of patience from both sides. And once you've seen it done well, as I have in my own department, you'll realise it's not as difficult as you'd assumed and well worth the effort.

 

Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt

Executive creative director, TBWA Sydney

 

The reality is, at the moment, a creative leadership role is not a part-time one.

It often involves being available before hours, after hours, on weekends and definitely five days a week. This way of working is completely at odds with being a present parent and, frankly, a normal human. 

 

We’ve got to change the way we work, not just for mothers in creative departments but for everyone. We’ve never been moving so fast and producing such a high volume of work across so many different time zones. We need to work together to find creative ways of delivering high-quality work to our clients without melting down our people. 

 

Equal parental leave for both genders. Job-shared leadership roles are needed so that two people can work part-time in one job and have much clearer boundaries set with clients. You’ll note that these are things that will benefit all genders—what’s good for women is, as it turns out, also good for people. 

 

Tze Kiat Tan

CEO, BBDO Asia

 

 

Ultimately, the industry needs to move beyond viewing motherhood as a ‘career break’ and instead see it as a valuable experience that enriches creativity and resilience. Only with this mindset, paired with concrete policies at the management level that genuinely support and value talent can we retain mothers in creative fields.

This post is filed under... Sounding Board: APAC experts speak on marketing and comms issues