‘Average is not good enough’: Advertising Council’s DE&I census results show progress is slow

May 22, 2024 10:13

Australia’s advertising industry has made significant DE&I progress on several fronts, however its overall Inclusion Index Score has decreased, according to the results from the Advertising Council Australia’s (ACA) latest Create Space Census.

The latest census found that females dominate across all five census levels: C-suite/executive management, senior staff, middle management, junior management and intern/junior executive. Since ACA’s 2021 census, there has been an 8% increase of females in C-suite/executive management roles.

35% of the census respondents say they’ve noticed significant changes that have positively impacted diversity and inclusion in their company over the last two years, and overall awareness of companies’ DE&I strategies and policies has increased by 6 percentage points, to 59%.

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Lauren McNamara

Lauren McNamara is a freelance journalist. She previously spent three years at Mumbrella, most recently as the associate editor. She left her staff role in August 2025.