For the first time in four years, women hold fewer than half of the jobs in the agency, media and tech industries, according to a study released today from She Runs It.

The group's fourth annual #Inclusive100 report found that women make up 46.4% of workers in those industries, down nearly 10% from the previous year.

Moreover, the decline in advertising, media and tech industries was disproportionate compared to other industries measured in the so-called Diversity Best Practice Index, which is issued by She Runs It in conjunction with consulting firm Seramount.

Companies included in the Index that fall outside of the agency, media or tech industries show a near 50/50 split between men and women workers.

“It seems like our industry was really impacted pretty dramatically by the course of the past year,” said Lynn Branigan, president and CEO of She Runs It.

McKinsey and Oxford Economics estimate that women have accounted for nearly 56% of total workforce exits since the start of the pandemic, despite making up just 48% of the workforce.

“This year, with all that’s gone on in our industry and the pandemic and racial divides, has made people rethink what priorities are and it’s probably really a time when companies and people are reassessing what’s important,” she said. 

Kat Gordon, founder and CEO of The 3% Movement, says the pandemic brought to light many issues that have been challenging women for decades, especially related to childcare. “While it's disheartening to see so many women struggling without adequate support, having all members of a team literally see the struggle (via Zoom) is a needed wake-up call,” she said. 

Gordon says a constant dialogue with employees who are parents of young kids will help all employers “learn the most pressing needs their employees are facing.”

While the number of women in these industries declined, there was an increase in women being promoted to corporate executive and senior manager positions over the last year.  Women held 33% of corporate executive roles and 43% of senior management positions, up significantly from 2019, when just 29% of corporate and executive roles in the agency, media tech roles were occupied by women. In the overall workforce, women held 33% of corporate executive and 38% of senior manager positions, the report found. 

The #Inclusive100 report also showcases diversity initiatives and how participating companies are working to improve numbers in this category with new techniques and approaches. “Managers actions have to be intentional,” Branigan said. 

Of the 50 companies in the agency, media and technology space that participated in the survey this year, 55% (up from 50% last year) said they are intentionally targeting programs with diversity organizations, compared to 99% of all industries, according to the report. And while 64% of ad industry companies say they are making diversity a requirement on interview slates (up from 50% last year) 81% of companies across the board do so.

The number of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color hires have increased, but at a slower rate than the previous year. The number of Black employees grew 5% in the industry, compared to 13% the prior year. The number of Latinx employees saw a 4% increase, which is smaller than the 13.1% growth from the year before. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders employees saw a hiring increase of 23.7%, compared to 19.9% the year prior.

“The representation of people of color is increasing, but not fast enough as you would have expected for Black and Latinx people, especially given all the conversations about this topic in the past year," says Branigan. "Experts on the topic have said ‘It took us 40 years to get here, it’s not going to take us one year to get out of this, it’s been years in the making.’”