WACL was founded in 1923 in a spirit of international hospitality – as an organisation charged with “receiving” a visiting delegation of adwomen from the US. At that time not all women had the right to vote. It would take another six years for that to happen.

We have come a long way in the century since then, but we still have a long way to go before we have total equality with men in our industry and society at large. We are still not free of bias or harassment, and not all women have the same opportunities and chances of success as others.

Our purpose at WACL is clear: to accelerate gender equality in the advertising and comms industry. And we do that in three ways:

Support

WACL members know it’s still not always easy to be a woman in leadership, and we know that we’re best able to lead the change we need in our industry if we take care of and support each other – as we say, “stronger me, stronger we”.

Inspire

Inspiring the next generation of women in leadership is hugely important to WACL. These are the women who are shaping our industry for the future, and will soon be leading it. It’s important to us to “pay it forward” and spend time, energy and resources supporting these women through our WACL Talent initiatives.

Campaign

Working with allies to create change is vital. We simply can’t do it alone. To guide us, we gathered  some of the best strategic minds in the industry and developed an evidence-led campaigning strategy, which identifies  the most important 5 levers of change that will accelerate the gender equality we seek. 

Our mission: 50% CEOs

We’ll know we’ve succeeded when 50% of people in all jobs, right up to the top job of CEO, are women. And we want to see those women CEOs proportionately reflecting the diversity of the population too.

The current climate

We are, in many ways, facing some of our toughest times as female leaders. Here in the UK and all around the world, we’re seeing a backlash against gender equality taking hold. It’s time to double down on our strategy, build from the evidence, and work together to create the change that is proven to benefit all of us – including men. And that means countering three powerful myths that are holding us back:

Gender inclusion is not an attack on men, but rather fair and equal to all  

Opinions are not the same as facts.

Gender equality is not a threat to men.

As we move forward, we hope you will continue to support WACL’s mission to accelerate gender equality in the industry, so together we can support, inspire and campaign, and create an industry where all of us can thrive together.