There’s been a growing call for action following the Socially Mobile Missing Women report. This highlighted a gap between entry levels and management of more than 4,000 female practitioners in England and Wales who left the industry mid-career or failed to progress to senior leadership roles.
The report has sparked important conversations about what's next. Leading Women is a response from PRCA members and industry leaders to each of the five recommendations from the Missing Women report. It is a series of progressive and practical steps to address inclusion and representation.
The women profiled in this campaign haven’t disappeared. They’ve stayed, returned and risen. Their experiences point to eight proven solutions that directly address the barriers identified by the Missing Women study and show the rest of the industry what’s possible.
Please do read these and implement the guidance in your own organisations to change the status quo for good.
Sarah Waddington CBE
Interim CEO, PRCA and Co-founder, Socially Mobile
1. Leadership development and progression
Pay gaps, rigid job structures, and outdated progression systems continue to disadvantage women, especially those who don’t follow a traditional, uninterrupted career path.
Solution: Structural pay equity and transparency
Agencies are closing gaps before they open by publishing pay data, defining salary bands by role, and removing negotiation bias, ensuring fairness isn’t left to chance.
“Salary bands are set by level and experience, not by what someone feels comfortable asking for.” – Sharan Sunner, Seven Media
“We share our ethnic and gender pay gap data openly, so we can track progress and stay honest with ourselves.” – Ruth Kieran, Cirkle
Solution: Reimagining career progression and hiring specifications
Forward-thinking employers are eliminating outdated qualifications and redefining potential. They focus on values, soft skills and impact rather than linear CVs.
“We do not ask for educational qualifications or last drawn salary.” – Charu Srivastava, TriOn & Co
“If someone’s doing great work, they’re naturally given new opportunities to match that growth.” – Jo Scard, Fifty Acres
2. Work pattern flexibility
Too many women are forced to choose between thriving at work and managing the realities of motherhood, menopause, caregiving or chronic health needs.
Solution: Flexible working as a standard
Flexibility has become foundational, with phased returns, part-time options, hybrid working, and flexible hours around real lives.
“Design the workplace in a way that actually works for people.” – Jo Scard, Fifty Acres
“We offer flexibility in start and finish times, remote working options, and enhanced parental leave from day one.” – Meilin Wong, Milk & Honey PR
3. Life stage and well-being support
Women who take time out for caring responsibilities often return to find opportunities diminished and seniority lost. Doors often close entirely.
Solution: Women’s health and life-stage support
Best-in-class organisations are addressing menopause, menstruation, pregnancy loss and neurodivergence with policy, empathy, and practical support.
“Being seen, heard and supported should be a given, not a privilege.” – Meilin Wong, Milk & Honey PR
“We have a very comprehensive leave policy… including partners and pets as well as leave for menstruation issues.” – Charu Srivastava, TriOn & Co
Solution: Returner and mid-life career support
From returner bootcamps to mid-career hiring strategies, leaders reframe experience and age as assets and not risks.
“Hire women older than 45. Hire returning women. And ruthlessly evidence your success.” – Amanda Fone, F1 Recruitment
“We actively seek out talent from other industries, across generations, welcoming back and retraining women returners to the workforce.” – Kirsty Leighton, Milk & Honey PR
4. Cultural and behavioural change
When leadership lacks diversity and organisations ignore lived experience, the result is a workplace culture that excludes, silences or sidelines women.
Solution: Active, ongoing cultural development
Inclusive workplaces are powered by real conversations, with forums, feedback channels and co-created change embedded into the rhythm of work.
“Systemic change doesn’t happen behind closed doors. It needs to be shaped with the people it impacts most.” – Meilin Wong, Milk & Honey PR
“One idea that came from this was to set up a women’s forum… We then discuss this feedback, scrutinise our own behaviour, and implement changes as a result.” – Emily Fermor, Hanbury Strategy
5. Structural and organisational change
Change efforts often fail when they are isolated, tokenistic, or disconnected from strategy. Equity requires sustained leadership accountability and structural commitment.
Solution: Leadership accountability and collective ownership
Leaders are treating equity as a business imperative, tracking progress, auditing bias, and holding themselves accountable.
“Equity is not a box to tick. It’s a culture to build.” – Heather Blundell, Grayling
“If someone is not moving in line with colleagues, we dig in to find out why and correct any unconscious bias we may have.” – Kirsty Leighton, Milk & Honey PR
Solution: Representation and decision-making power
Many agencies now have women-majority leadership, ensuring senior decision-making reflects the lived experience of the workforce.
“Ask yourself: who’s missing from your leadership table?” – Jo Carr, Hope&Glory
“Very proud that Milk & Honey is a predominantly women-led organisation… Far more reflective of the industry as a whole.” – Kirsty Leighton, Milk & Honey PR
Our Leading Women prove that when structural and cultural barriers are addressed intentionally, women thrive. Their stories align directly with the findings of The Missing Women Study, offering a clear, actionable blueprint for the rest of the industry to listen, redesign and lead with equity at the core.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
f1 Recruitment Ltd, a leading executive search consultancy for the PR, Communications, and Marketing sectors, has been tackling structural bias through its Back2Business programme since 2013. It is the UK’s only returner programme designed specifically for professionals in PR, Marketing, Media, and Sports Marketing who have taken career breaks due to family or caring responsibilities.
The programme directly addresses bias against career breakers—particularly those aged 45 and over—by equipping returners with up-to-date industry knowledge and practical career strategies through a six-day bootcamp featuring 25 expert-led sessions. It culminates in a networking event that connects participants with potential employers.
So far, over 400 professionals have re-entered the workforce through Back2Business, generating more than £12 million in household income and contributing over £3 million to the UK Treasury. The initiative actively supports diversity by championing candidates from ethnically diverse and lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
f1 Recruitment partners with leading organisations to provide access to this underutilised talent pool. Past partners include: Advertising Association, CIPR, CIM, ESA, Rail Delivery Group, SSE plc, Havas Media Group, VCCP, Burson, West Ham FC, LinkedIn, Ofcom, FleishmanHillard, and Golin.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Stop talking about change and be the change in the PR sector. Start by creating practical, measurable programmes within your organisation that directly support women—whether that means helping them progress in their careers or return to the workforce after a break. Proactively hire women over the age of 45, and ensure returning professionals who have taken time out for caring responsibilities are given fair opportunities to re-enter and thrive. Most importantly, hold yourself accountable: track outcomes and ruthlessly evidence your success to drive real, sustained progress.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
A range of steps have been taken to support inclusivity, transparency, and wellbeing across the team.
These include transparency on salary bands, clear job specifications, and defined paths for progression. Regular skills-mapping is conducted, with additional training, coaching, or mentoring identified as needed. Career chats are held for every team member with the founders to outline goals and discuss the support required.
Pay parity is a priority, along with a commitment to measure and share gender and ethnicity pay gaps with the team annually, and as part of the PRWeek study. Enhanced parental leave policies are in place, including 16 weeks of full pay and 8 weeks of half pay for maternity leave, available without a qualifying period beyond probation and open to all levels. Paternity or secondary carer leave includes 6 weeks of full pay. Maternity returner programmes are also in place, offering three coaching sessions with an external coach and phased returns.
Flexible working patterns are encouraged, including options for 4 or 4.5-day weeks, as well as hybrid working with three days in the office and two from home. Additional flexibility is offered to parents during key school transition periods. Flexible start and end times are also supported.
Further benefits include a fertility loan of up to £10,000, and grief leave—including two weeks for pregnancy loss, with no questions asked. A menopause policy offers £1,000 towards specialist support at diagnosis.
The office closes on International Women’s Day to allow the team to reflect, educate themselves, or engage with feminist causes. The organisation also holds membership with “Women in PR” and actively participates in its mentoring and shadow board programmes.
Finally, the company provides clear training and education around sexual harassment, with respect and anti-discrimination clauses integrated into client contracts and service commitments.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Start by looking at your senior leadership team and asking yourself who’s missing? Who needs a seat at that table if you are serious about creating an equitable workplace culture in the future and seek out their voices and opinions as a first step.
The agencies with the best workplace cultures are intentional about how they show up for their teams and their colleagues. They recognise that everyone’s needs and experiences will be different. This isn’t about one-size-fits-all policies but understanding different life-stages and what might be needed to help a colleague thrive at any given moment in time.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
Milk & Honey was founded on the belief that diversity, equality, and inclusion are not just the right things to stand for. They’re powerful drivers of creativity, resilience, and business success.
As a woman-founded agency, women play a central role in our global leadership. That perspective has shaped the way we build our workplace: intentionally different, and deeply supportive.
We understand that many women juggle multiple roles beyond work. That’s why we offer flexibility in start and finish times, remote working options, and enhanced parental leave from day one - 52 weeks supported by a phased return-to-work programme that provides full pay for reduced hours. These are offered in addition to our 40+1 paid leave policy to ensure everyone, regardless of life stage or circumstance, has the time to rest and recharge as and when they choose.
We take women’s health seriously. We’re proud signatories of the Menopause Charter, the Working with Cancer Pledge, and the Pregnancy Loss Pledge because we truly believe that being seen, heard, and supported should be a given, not a privilege.
We regularly review our policies to ensure they stay relevant and impactful. It has helped us welcome incredible women back into the workforce after career breaks, bringing with them wisdom, experience, and skills that too often get lost in this industry. It has also helped us attract the next generation of talent who can see a real future here, with accessible role models to learn from.
These approaches have led to a much more nurturing environment that benefits everyone across all our offices. We also recognise that structural bias encompasses more than gender and try to apply this same understanding to be truly inclusive. There’s still work to be done, and we’re honest about that. But we hold ourselves accountable, because building a truly inclusive culture isn’t just good business. It’s the right thing to do.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Simply – think differently. Recognise that yours is not the only perspective and that reality is different depending on who you are. And the ONLY way to do this is to ensure that other voices are represented at all levels of an agency. Uniformity of representation results in uniformity of thinking – which is the beating heart of structural bias.
It needs space - real, intentional space - to listen, reflect and co-create with your people. Systemic change doesn’t happen in isolation or behind closed doors. It needs to be shaped with the people it impacts most.
A powerful example of this was our Milk & Honey global board offsite in Marrakech in 2024. We brought together our teams from the UK, US, Singapore, and Germany not just to report results or to network, but to sit together, face-to-face, and ask the harder questions: What problems are we really solving? What are we not seeing? What other solutions do we need to meet our clients’ problems tomorrow? How are we future-proofing our agency and what does it take to do that, together?
It was a moment of honest reflection and a statement of our ambition. We invited feedback from every corner of the business, challenged our assumptions and co-created strategies to ensure our growth would be inclusive, sustainable and values-led. Out of that experience came insights that will shape our agency in the short, medium and long terms – across different cultures and experiences.
So, my advice is simple, but it takes bravery. Slow down, bring your people in, and be open to where the conversation leads - because that’s where real, systemic change begins.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
Over the past year, Grayling UK has taken meaningful steps to address structural bias across hiring, career progression, workplace benefits and inclusive culture. With nine offices nationwide, our focus is on removing barriers and increasing diversity of thought and experience. Our goal is to create an environment where everyone feels valued, driving innovation and excellence across our clients.
• Inclusive Recruitment
Diversity of thought, belonging and inclusion are central to our recruitment strategy. We’re proud to be the first PR agency to partner with MeVitae. Their tech integrates with our existing systems to anonymise applications and reduce bias, supporting fairer hiring at all levels.
• Career Progression and Representation
In 2025, we launched a clear competencies framework outlining the skills and behaviours expected at each level. Quarterly promotion cycles and regular performance reviews ensure transparency and consistency. In 2024, over 50% of our UK team was promoted – 46% of whom were women and 10% from minoritised backgrounds. 50% of our UK board and Senior Advisory board are women and 20% are non-white.
• Industry-leading Benefits
Our hybrid model balances flexibility with collaboration, offering employees three in-office days a week and two weeks of ‘work from anywhere’ annually. We offer up to 35 days’ leave, plus enhanced parental and fertility support policies. We also offer fully paid leave for pregnancy and baby loss. We have made all of our poliices publicly available on our UK website – for full transparency.
• Inclusion and Equity Iniatives
We partner with organisations like Global Purpose Enterprise, PR Mums, and Creative Mentor Network to support underrepresented groups through mentoring and training. We’re also investing in neurodiversity awareness through Lexxic, and supporting young talent through Sparks, our education outreach programme. Our six Employee Resource Groups shape internal policy and ensure lived experiences inform our direction.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Invest in your people, and back that up with the right tools and partnerships. Systemic change doesn’t happen in isolation; it requires consistent commitment to raising standards and meeting the real needs of your team. Equity isn’t a box to tick, it’s a culture to build.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
We’ve built a management team that actually looks like the people we want to empower. Over 70% of our senior roles are held by women.
We empower our most talented team members to be able to do their jobs to the best of their ability and offer flexibility, especially for mums returning to work. It’s not just about creating roles, it’s about making sure the roles work for them.
We’ve also taken pay equity seriously. Salary bands are set by level and experience, not by what someone feels comfortable asking for in an interview. It’s one way we’ve tackled the all-too-common issue of women and certain nationalities undervaluing themselves and we’ve closed that gap before it even opens.
On top of that, we run regular sessions around key moments like International Women’s Day and mental health awareness, not for the sake of ticking a box, but to spark honest conversations in a safe and inclusive space.
Beyond our own four walls, I’m working closely with the PRCA on DEI initiatives to help shift the wider industry forward because we need a system where women at every level can thrive, not just survive.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Take a proper look at who’s in your management team. Does it genuinely reflect the rest of your people not just in senior roles, but across all levels? And just as importantly, does it represent the clients you work with and the audiences they’re trying to reach?
You can’t drive meaningful change or talk about equity if the room making the decisions doesn’t reflect real, lived experience. Change starts at the top, but it only works if the top isn’t an echo chamber. Get honest about who's there and who’s missing.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
At our agency, tackling structural bias isn’t just something we talk about but something we actively work on every day. As a working mother myself, I know firsthand how rigid work structures can hold people back. So when I started my own consultancy, I knew flexibility had to be part of the foundation. Not just for me, but for the whole team, and even our clients. That’s how we start to break down structural bias: by designing the workplace in a way that actually works for people.
One of our team members, a working mum, told me early on, “I need flexibility because of what’s going on at home. If I can’t have that, I’ll have to walk away.” She’s now a key part of our growth and leadership. That’s what tackling bias looks like, removing the barriers that force people to choose between their careers and their lives.
When it comes to hiring and promotions, I’ve never focused on age or how many years of experience someone has. What matters to me is their ability to deliver, grow, and contribute to the team. If someone’s doing great work, they’re naturally given new opportunities to match that growth.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Start by listening to your team and then build with intention, because systemic change doesn’t happen by accident. If you want to create equity, you have to design for it from the ground up. That means challenging old assumptions about what leadership looks like, what productivity means, and how people are supported at work.
Ask yourself: Who is your workplace really built for? Who’s being left out? For us, creating a virtual, flexible environment wasn’t just a practical choice. It was about removing the barriers that so many people, especially women and carers, face. If you want real change, look at the lived experience of your team and that’s where the answers are.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
Very proud that Milk & Honey is a predominantly women led organisation with the board being dominated by women in every territory. Far more reflective of the industry as a whole.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Actively seek out talent from other industries, across generations, welcoming back and retraining women returners o the workforce. We also track progress and if someone is not moving in line with colleagues we dig in to find out why and correct any unconscious bias' we may have.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
APCO is a majority women-owned advocacy and advisory firm founded by Margery Kraus. The London office removes barriers to women’s career progression with flexible working policies including part-time hours, working from home and progressive parental leave. Women across Europe are offered mentorship from the women’s resource group and all employees must undertake compulsory unconscious bias training. The STAR interview method and blind applications for junior roles help to remove bias from our recruitment process and we constantly analyse data on hiring, promotions, salaries and resignations to check we are delivering on our commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Women on a career break represent a high-calibre talent pool that should be factored into every strategy to increase diversity and inclusion. Management teams should actively recruit returners to build a more diverse workforce, meet a need for experienced talent and close the gender pay gap at a senior level.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
Respect, transparency and honesty are our company values and we embody and embed them in all aspects of the organisation. We have clear policies and guidelines to ensure objectivity from the way we hire to the way that we work as a team.
At the hiring stage, we do not ask for educational qualifications or last drawn salary. We instead evaluate candidates based on their performance and interactions with the hiring manager and wider team. We also look at soft skills as we believe that hard skills can be picked up and honed on the job.
Our company policies clearly include our stance on fairness and equity at the workplace. This includes no tolerance for any discrimination, be it conscious or unconscious and this is implemented through intentional, structured processes. We also openly welcome the use of technology such as generative AI to support employees with neurodiversity. I am dyslexic myself and rely on using technology tools like spell check and auto transcriptions to overcome the challenges I face.
We also have a very comprehensive leave policy that covers caregiving beyond next-of-kin to include partners and pets as well as leave that covers menstruation issues that might impact the ability to work.
Along with these policies and guidelines, we actively have conversations with the team to explain the rationale and intention for what we champion to get deeper support and buy-in for having an unbiased workplace. We strive to create and maintain an environment that welcomes and encourages open conversations and discussion without any fear.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Don’t be afraid of uncomfortable conversations and uncomfortable truths. Embrace discomfort as it is the catalyst for change.
Don’t use what has been done as a reason to not change. Each of us can break the cycle and be the change.
A fair, diverse, inclusive and equitable workforce is not only a good thing to do but it is also good for productivity and business.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
We recognize that bias can subtly infiltrate organizational structures, practices, and cultural norms, often in ways that are less overt than direct discrimination. To genuinely commit to inclusion, proactive measures are imperative.
At FleishmanHillard we conduct regular reviews and audits of our systems and data to identify disparities in areas such as pay equity, access to advancement opportunities, and employee retention. We also prioritize ongoing training for our leaders and managers to combat unconscious bias, fostering a people-first culture grounded in empathy and the appreciation of differences. Recently, we focused on addressing proximity bias, which can inadvertently affect the distribution of client opportunities. In a high-pressure consulting environment, decision-makers may favour those physically closer to them. To counter this, we launched an innovative platform called 'Open Door', where high-profile opportunities are listed along with their requirements. This initiative promotes transparency and grants all employees visibility of available opportunities, empowering them to apply. Our long-standing commitment to identifying and addressing all forms of structural bias ensures that every individual has the potential to thrive and advance within our organization.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
Effective systemic change requires more than merely appointing an individual to investigate structural bias; it necessitates that management teams take collective ownership of this imperative. Leaders must understand that they are personally accountable for driving meaningful change. To cultivate systemic transformation, we encourage those in leadership roles to rethink recruitment strategies, maintain transparency in awarding stretch opportunities, and clearly communicate the rationale behind promotions. It is essential to challenge ourselves and our peers regarding these decisions and to be accountable for the progress made. True commitment to equity is not just about doing what is right; it is about recognizing that fostering an inclusive environment benefits everyone in the organization.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
I’m really proud that every year we develop a diversity and inclusion strategy in a collaborative process with the whole team where everyone has the opportunity to contribute and share their point of view.
One idea that came from this was to set up a women’s forum, which has now been in place for over a year. It enables our brilliant women to come together, share experiences and propose changes to the management team. We then discuss this feedback, scrutinise our own behaviour, and implement changes as a result.
Similarly to our working parents forum, which has been up and running for two years, the group is a source of support for those in it, but it also drives meaningful change. We have introduced new policies and benefits as a direct result of ideas generated from these forums.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
When it comes to hiring, recognition and reward, in my experience progress can only be made when we make active and deliberate decisions. This means looking honestly at the make up of your organisation, and then choosing to make decisions which actively address imbalances.
I’m really delighted to say that in 2024 we made significant progress towards improving gender balance in our senior team through a mix of external hires - including our first ever CEO Emilie Oldknow - and promoting talent from within.
What steps has your organisation taken to eradicate structural bias in the workplace?
Structural bias takes many forms and often it isn’t immediately visible. Even in the most progressive businesses, and I include Cirkle in that, it can subtly influence systems and processes in ways that create unfair outcomes. As an agency, we are committed to continually reviewing how we work to make sure we support fairness and inclusion, not unintentionally undermine it. That’s why we offer full flexibility around hours and location, supporting team members with caring responsibilities, challenges or just different life setups. We also share our ethnic and gender pay gap data openly, so we can track progress and stay honest with ourselves. Most importantly, we constantly ask the team for their feedback and genuinely want them to challenge us or call out anything that they don’t feel is fair.
What one piece of advice would you give to other management teams wanting to create systemic change and drive equity?
If you want to genuinely be a champion for change, ask those people who are impacted to give you real, brutal feedback. It can be hard to hear, but without it, it’s hard to implement change where it really matters.
The Equality Act 2010 enshrines equality under UK law. It protects against discrimination, harassment, and victimisation services based on nine protected characteristics. These characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. The Act aims to promote equality and reduce unfair treatment.
