Women are more visible in ads but is that real progress?
Turn on the TV, scroll through Instagram, or drive by a billboard. Thanks to a generation of women who fought for this, women can be seen in all forms of Indian advertising today—smiling, selling, leading, achieving. These aren’t the same ads that a few generations before us grew up with.
Naila Patel, NCD, Mirum India: A WPP Company says, “The portrayal of women has evolved because the role of women in society has evolved. She’s no longer just the pretty face or the ideal mother — she’s the protagonist, the disruptor, the change-maker.”
On the surface, it feels like we’ve arrived at progress. But take a closer look: is presence the same as gaining equilibrium?
Looking back at the evolution, Filmmaker Sonal Batra says, “For decades, advertising confined women to traditional roles — homemakers, caregivers, or the ever-smiling wife and mother, with their worth often tied to serving others.” Even now, she says, while the visual language has evolved, showing women as independent, ambitious and multi-dimensional, many brands “still hesitate to break free from conventional narratives.”
It’s a strange contradiction, women may be front and centre on screen, but the worlds they live and breathe, are often still boxed in by old ideas.
Leena Gupta, Founding Member & Creative, Talented, points out the small but clever trick that plays out at work. “We’ve created a new problem. The dad who changes diapers becomes the hero of the ad — applauded for doing what mothers do without fanfare. Fathers engaging in household chores become exceptional characters rather than ordinary people.”
A 2023 study by ASCI and the Unstereotype Alliance found that 58% of female characters in Indian ads are portrayed with fair skin tones (compared to 25% of men), and women are nearly five times more likely to be shown as sole caregivers in domestic settings.
However, true progress in advertising won’t just be measured by screen time or surface diversity. As Leena said, “Progress happens when women's stories aren't told as exceptions but as reflections of our messy, multifaceted reality — both on screen and in the rooms where decisions are made.”
The illusion of the lead
If visibility was the goal, then yes women are present in Indian advertising more than ever before.
Look closely at the big, massy ads, the ones selling homes, finance, bikes or mobile data to the country. Who’s behind the wheel? Whose face do you see on the screen?
More often than not, it’s still a man.
Naila Patel says, “It’s not like women aren’t present. Research shows that the Indian ads pass the “See Jane Test” which measures if at least one prominent female character is not depicted as a trope or stereotype. But while women have gained a strong presence, they are still playing stereotypical roles.”
Sonal Batra remembers a moment of false hope. “A long time ago, a Lux campaign featuring SRK felt like a step toward change,” she says. “But ironically, he was still surrounded by women, somewhat defeating the point.”
It’s an example of how gender representation in ads often seems progressive but pulls back just before handing the woman the steering wheel.
But the industry has seen some exceptions, these exceptions have helped pave the way for the portrayal of women in ads.
A good example is Mohey’s Kanyamaan ad. In a country where ‘Kanyadaan’, the ritual of giving away the daughter, is often seen as the emotional climax of a wedding, Mohey flipped the script. The ad spoke about respect for the bride as an individual, not a possession to be transferred. It forced people to confront: why should a woman need to be given away at all?
Even brands that traditionally spoke to just women are waking up. Ariel’s long-running Share The Load campaign has been talking about the invisible labour women shoulder at home.
And then there are ads like the 2023 Mercedes “Be One of Many” campaign which rejected the need for women to be extraordinary just to be visible. It featured a young girl surrounded by images of groundbreaking women, questioning why women couldn’t simply be part of a team rather than constantly striving to be "the first" or "the only."
Women shouldn’t have to ‘make history’ to be seen,” Batra says. “They should have the space to exist, thrive, and be recognised as one of many.”
The fine print of progress
If there’s one place where change feels most visible, it’s in categories that were once the most resistant to it, thinks the advertising industry. Finance, technology, and household brands, spaces that traditionally spoke at women, are finally learning to speak to them.
Ads today are increasingly comfortable showing women as investors, decision-makers, and business owners and no longer just caretakers of the home, but caretakers of their own futures. The shift is visible, but as Naila Patel puts it, the pace of progress is uneven. “Society is trying to keep up with the changing woman; some brands get it right, others attempt to get it right. And then there are those who prefer not to move an inch.”
It’s a real tug-of-war between outdated narratives and new stories.
Leena Gupta sees it too. Even though some ads show women as strong and independent, others still push the same old roles, just with new labels like ‘choice feminism’.
"How revolutionary is it, really, when an ad celebrates a woman "choosing" beauty standards that have been imposed for generations- or a woman proudly saying that being a housewife is an ‘empowering choice’?
The truth is, progress isn’t linear, not in a country where empowerment often looks different across different streets, cities, and social realities.
Gupta adds, “Tier-1 ideas of empowerment rarely reflect the reality of a gender-skewed country like ours and ideas like choice feminism are harmful. As creators, we can't just reflect the culture we shape it, whether we admit this power or not.”
Moving from representation to authorship
There was a time when just seeing women in ads felt like progress. But today, their presence has become routine — almost expected. The real question now isn’t whether women are being shown, but how they’re being shown. What kind of roles do they play? What kind of worlds do they belong to? And do these characters feel real, layered, and fully human — or are they just ticking a box?
This means brands and creative heads need to move beyond tokenism and ask tougher questions about authorship and authenticity.
For Naila Patel, the change starts right from casting choices: “Interesting personalities should take prominence over stunning faces. The subservient wife or the pushy aunt are now blind spots and advertisers need to move on. Body positivity and beyond colourism should be conscious choices. The audiences are cheering brave choices, it’s the right time to make them.”
It’s a reminder that taking creative risks isn’t always about making loud, dramatic statements. Sometimes, it’s in the quieter choices; who gets seen, whose bodies are shown with respect, and whose stories we believe are worth telling.
But representation on screen is only half the picture. Behind the scenes, the question of who gets to tell these stories is just as critical.
Leena Gupta says, “Only 11% of creative directors are women. And so our industry struggles with authentic female narratives. You can't create resonant stories about experiences you've never lived. We need to bring in voices with skin in the game — people for whom these aren't abstract creative exercises but lived realities.”
For her, real progress isn’t about ticking boxes or filling a diversity quota. “The true measure of our industry's evolution isn't just counting faces in our ads... Progress happens when women's stories aren't told as exceptions, but as reflections of our messy, multifaceted reality — both on screen and in the rooms where decisions are made.”
That, really, is the heart of the problem. Diversity without giving people control over their own stories is just for the screens. And for an industry built on appearances, advertising will have to start asking harder questions if the industry intends to nip it in the bud.
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