While OOH is said to be a male-dominated industry, the reality is that women entrepreneurs and professionals enjoy a level-playing field in the domain. Women professionals take on roles, work load and responsibilities that are no different from those of their male counterparts, and are indeed leading by example everywhere -- from media ownership and media planning to client servicing and business development. The word is, these days women are becoming the new Men of OOH industry. And to celebrate International Women’s day, outdoor specialist agencies created a variety of experiences for their women employees.

A lunch treat, food coupons and chocolates were common amongst all agencies for their women employees, but a couple of agencies went a step ahead to make their women professionals feel very special. Posterscope India gave a day out to all their women employees who in turn planned a picnic in the outskirts of Mumbai.

Kinetic India’s women professionals received surprise gifts that included flowers, cards and sweets; in Delhi the women received personalised messages on printed photo postcards signed by the head of business. Rapport distributed Amul chocolates – Amul is the agency’s long-standing client. The clients and media partners came ahead to pamper the ladies by providng for them pedicure and manicure services.

But is this the matter of only one day or this special treatment continues all year long? We posed this question to a few OOH industry women leaders. “It is a matter of perspective. At my current workplace and previous workplace, I have got a level playing field to work in this industry. It is amazing to work at a place where men around you respect you and no gender bias exists,” shares Rachana Lokhande, Director -- Trade & Operations, Kinetic India.

Echoing the view, Manpreet Kaur, AVP, The Social Street feels that men’s domination is a part of all industry, not just OOH. “I would say not only in OOH industry but from established firms to startups, men still dominate in certain industries. Just because we are outnumbered by male counterparts doesn’t mean that women don’t enjoy equal stature in the corporate world/ OOH industry. Rather the trend has changed with many women taking up leadership/strategic positions and are storming the board rooms successfully,” says Manpreet.

Neeta Gulati & Geetika Gulati, Directors of Alakh Advertising & Promotions have created their own success story in this industry. While narrating her experience, Geetika shares, “There aren’t many challenges which are unique to women or men. We as an industry every day face the same kind of challenges and issues. But, yes, dealing with ground level staff of Municipal Corporation becomes a little challenging as they don’t entertain women; we have to take help from our male staff”.

In the midst of all the fun, many of the women outdoorians were found to be busy in back to back meetings while contacted.