Return-to-office mandates, relentless bias, a widening pay gap… why are we looking the other way while a steady stream of female talent exits the industry?
18 Nov 2025 | Nicola Kemp
Is adland collectively on mute about female burnout? Nicola Kemp says there are a few topics that elicit an eye roll as quickly as the idea that women are disproportionately overwhelmed.
From slapdash return-to-office mandates to ignoring the untenable pressure on working mothers, we must stop being careless with women’s careers.
It’s time to call time on the fear, apathy and defensiveness that still surround equality in the media industry.
As an industry, we prioritise empty platitudes over tangible policy. Remote working is vital to levelling the playing field for diverse talent — why are we pretending otherwise?
For an industry rooted in its understanding of people, seeing DEI as expendable is deeply problematic. It has never been more vital for leaders to continue to invest in progress.
We are not destined to be rivals. Think carefully about what you need to unlearn. Be intentional about challenging a culture that routinely holds women to impossible standards.
The US election underlines that, when racism and sexism combine, women in leadership simply cannot win.
The collective experience of women returning from maternity leave is an act of corporate negligence, with devastating impacts on women’s careers and the media industry.
If we want to drive real equality in media, we must call time on lip-service feminism and self-interested silence.
The tide of racism and misplaced hatred across the UK underlines that the media’s silent majority must speak up. It’s no longer enough to not be able to find the right words.