Achieving gender balance Troy Ruhanen, TBWA Worldwide, Global President & CEO

At TBWA, we believe International Women’s Day is a global day of celebration rightfully honoring the many achievements of women around the world.

In the spirit of progress, TBWA’s ongoing commitment to our existing Take The Lead initiative, which strives to achieve a gender balanced workplace, is gaining momentum and making an impact across the company.

Take The Lead launched on International Women’s Day 2015, with an initial goal of increasing the percentage of women in leadership roles by 20% by the year 2020. To date, we’ve seen an increase in the female-to-male leadership ratio across the company by 12%, with a 15% increase at the Executive/C-level, and an 11% increase at the Management/Director level. Women now comprise 41% of leadership roles at TBWA globally.

There is still work to do, but we are pleased to see measurable progress across our collective.

Our next area of focus for Take the Lead will be on mentorship, ensuring we train, develop and grow the next generation of female leaders within our company.

And while International Women’s Day is about celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, it is also a day to shed light on the frustrating obstacles and impediments to equality still facing women today, and a day to take necessary action.

#PressForProgress encourages all of us to do more than talk the talk.

So, at TBWA, we pledge that this year will not be just about making noise – it’s about getting to work.