Equal Pay Day: Time for India’s A&M industry to rewrite its own script

September 18th isn’t just another date on the calendar - it’s Equal Pay Day. A global reminder that women must work nearly three extra months each year to earn what men made by December of the previous year. In India, the reality is starker: according to the World Economic Forum, women take home just under Rs 30 for every Rs 100 earned by men. And inequity doesn’t just show up in pay slips - it shows up in who stays and who leaves.

Data from greytHR’s Gender Inclusivity Study 2024 shows that advertising and PR in India have actually seen a decline in female participation. It shows that the industry, which talks about equality in glossy campaigns, has an opportunity to live those values more fully within its own walls.

Where the ladder narrows

Women graduate at the same levels as men (often higher), and they enter the workforce in large numbers. But as careers progress, the ladder begins to narrow. Leadership opportunities thin out, representation shrinks, and with it, women’s ability to negotiate fairly. Lower entry pay anchors, compounded bias, and fewer visible role models mean that by mid-career, many women are negotiating from decades of accumulated disadvantage.

The industry contradiction

Even some of the global advertising networks known for winning awards for breaking stereotypes in their campaigns are still grappling with pay inequities in their own offices.

• WPP UK’s mean pay gap stood at 20.5% in 2024.
• McCann UK? 26.0%.
• Adam & Eve/DDB UK? 26.4%.

In simple terms, this means the average hourly pay for women at these agencies was between 20% and 26% lower than that of men. That’s the contradiction at the heart of our industry: the networks that champion equality in their campaigns are yet to achieve it in their own pay slips.

How can we authentically connect with female consumers when internal teams don’t reflect their diversity? The disconnect between what we project to audiences and what we practice internally isn’t just a gap - it’s a strategic risk.Because if consumers see the dissonance between our messaging and our workplaces, we risk losing both credibility and market trust.

India does have bright spots. In 2019, Publicis Communications and Publicis Media India were certified ‘Equal Pay’ organisations by KPMG after an independent audit. Proof that equity is measurable, certifiable, and achievable when leaders commit. But one bright spot doesn’t light up the whole sky!

Where representation meets pay

The EY/FICCI 2025 report estimates India’s Media & Entertainment sector to be at Rs 2.5 trillion, with digital and the creator economy leading growth. However, the industry doesn’t automatically make it an equal one.Women are the core audience and drivers of this growth, yet inside the industry, they remain undervalued.

The O Womaniya! 2024 study notes women continue to be underrepresented in the roles - directors, producers, commissioning leads - that decide both stories and salaries. 

This isn’t just about representation on-screen. It’s about who controls the budgets, who gets the assignments, and ultimately, who negotiates from a position of power. Encouragingly, female commissioning leads rose from 31% in 2022 to 42% in 2023, a sign that when women sit at the decision-making table, content and compensation both shift.

The business case (And yes, we still need to spell it out!)

Pay inequity fuels attrition - women vote with their feet and move to employers who treat them fairly. According to SHRM, replacing an employee can cost anywhere between 50% to 200% of their annual salary. For an industry already under pressure on margins, pay inequity isn’t just a moral issue - it’s a costly one that hits the bottom line. And here’s the irony: EY estimates that using AI in areas like scriptwriting, VFX, and localisation can cut production costs by 20-40%. If we can embrace new tech to save money, we can certainly find ways to close a pay gap that’s costing us even more in lost talent and credibility.

The road ahead

The roadmap isn’t rocket science, but it does require leadership intent:

• Pay Equity Audits - annually, not just for compliance.
• Ban Salary History Questions - stop penalising women for systemic inequities.
• Transparent Pay Bands - sunlight is the best disinfectant!
• Tie Leadership KPIs to Pay Equity - what gets rewarded gets done.
• Mentorship & Flex Policies - not ‘women’s issue’ but mainstream business necessities.

Call to action

Here’s the challenge for every CEO: make this the last Equal Pay Day your company needs to mark. Not because India has solved it nationally, but because you’ve solved it in your corner of the A&M universe.

Audit your payroll. Ask uncomfortable questions. Look at who’s making decisions, who’s leading pitches, who’s getting promoted - and who isn’t.

Because in an industry built on storytelling, our pay slips are the most powerful stories we’ll ever tell. Right now, they’re telling the wrong one.

The time for conversations is over. The time for change is now. Because just under Rs 30 for every Rs 100 isn't just a statistic - it's a creative brief for the kind of industry we don't want to be.

This article is penned by Roopa Badrinath, Founder & Principal Consultant, Turmeric Consulting

Disclaimer: The article features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the stance of the publication.