How can brands and agencies put their money where their mouth is this IWD?

Another year, another International Women's Day. Sometimes it can feel like these years are all the same, like nothing's changing year on year. Or even that things are getting worse, going backwards.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a state of the industry piece on gender in the design world. We'd made progress, it seemed, since my previous report a couple of years prior, but there was still a way to go.

So this year, in 2026, where are we really, and what can brands and agencies actually do to accelerate action this International Women's Day? How can they put their money where their mouth is?

I caught up with leading creatives to find out their thoughts.

"Brands and agencies have to walk the walk when it comes to gender equality," says Rowenna Prest, chief strategy officer at Joint. "There shouldn’t be even a whiff of tokenism. So it’s not good enough to ensure what they produce looks like it’s championing a level playing field, how it was made and by who really matters too."

Changing things isn't easy though, notes Rowenna. "Obviously, systemic HR programmes around equal pay and equal promotion prospects have to be in place, but there also needs to be a real commitment to a culture that fosters equality if change is going to truly take hold at pace.

"Culture-correcting is not a one-hit solution. It’s a serious commitment and needs to be truly championed by those running the company, not just HR."

So what kind of culture do agencies need to create? "Firstly, and it sounds obvious, but a culture that celebrates and embraces difference is key; all too often, agencies can have quite a distinctive flavour, which is fine as long as there is room to deviate.

"Secondly, a culture that understands language really matters. For years, agencies tended to have a bit of a 'mate' culture, which is a way of building rapport, but the only problem is it unwittingly excludes 52% of the population.

"And finally, a culture that truly believes in flexibility. This isn’t about counting the number of days in the office; it's about understanding that some people (men and women, but still disproportionately falling on women's shoulders) have care commitments which can’t be ditched for a 6pm creative review."

For Sue Daun, executive creative director at Interbrand, the best IWD activity is when integrity meets integration. "Every 8 March, many brands flood our social feeds with empowerment messages. By 9 March, most revert to business as usual.

The data is stark, says Sue. "Women hold only 29% of executive roles in FTSE companies. In advertising – the industry literally selling women's leadership – they're 23% underrepresented at C-suite level. At this rate of change, it will take until 2060 to achieve gender parity at CEO level without intervention. Yet most brands treat this data as background noise, not a crisis requiring structural action."

"The difference between performative IWD campaigns and authentic transformation isn't messaging. It's structural commitment," says Sue. "Real change follows a pattern:

• Year 1-2 is brutal honesty (audit internal data, hire accountability leaders, publish uncomfortable figures).
• Year 2-3 shifts authority (women in actual decision-making roles, transparent advancement tracking).
• Year 3-5 embeds it as business metric, not HR initiative.
• Year 5+ stops talking about transformation, it's just how you operate.

There are some brands that are getting it right, explains Sue, who gives the following examples: "Channel 4's open-source menopause guidelines (downloaded 6,000 times globally). Diageo's integrated women's health policies now live in 40+ countries. IKEA's systemic approach to equal leadership representation and pay equity transparency. Quiet Storm's employee ownership model with an 18% churn rate versus 32.4% industry average.

"These aren't outliers," says Sue. "They're proof that doing the right thing and doing good business aren't opposing forces. Gender-balanced companies outperform their peers by an average of 29% annually, which is why the brands winning treat women's advancement as both moral imperative and measurable strategy. The brands winning? They're too busy being relentless and consistent to chase virality. That's exactly the point."

Polly Hopkins, UK managing director and global head of corporate brand at Elmwood, believes that cultural credibility with women isn't something a brand can just claim. "It has to be earned, gradually, through accumulated experience.

"Yet every March we see brands announcing their commitment to women as though saying it were the same as doing it. The ones that have genuinely earned that credibility don't need to announce it on IWD, because their customers are already doing it for them.

"That advocacy is built through the brand experience itself: how the brand looks and feels day-to-day, the assumptions baked into product design, who gets centred in the visual identity and who gets tokenised. None of that shows up in a press release. All of it shows up in how women talk about you when you're not in the room."

What do you think the design world needs to achieve true gender equality? Let us know in the comments.