Women in PR's Future

Education in PR enhances the likelihood that practitioners will practice excellent Public Relations. Since most Public Relations students are women and they are now the majority in the field, it seems that the quality of the PR work stands to some extent in women’s shoulders.
Much of the credit for progress in Public Relations goes to good professionals (men and women). Nevertheless, one may assume that because women have had to overcome stereotypical attitudes about their unsuitability for management, female professionals who secure management positions are actually more motivated toward achievement and self-actualization than their male counterparts.
Several studies also show that compared with men, women are more concerned with opportunities for growth, autonomy and challenge.
Although talking about men and women’s differences is reductive as we all know that there are no exclusive male/female characteristics, it is important to notice that it is all about good and bad professionals and gender has nothing to do with it.

...or Not To Be in the Velvet Ghetto

In “The Myth of Salary Discrimination in Public Relations”, James G. Hutton states that there is no pragmatic and practical reason to support the idea of gender discrimination. The author accounts for this new viewpoint the lack of any comprehensive study on the topic and no solid scientific evidence.
Furthermore, Hutton maintains that fields like marketing and advertising or even medicine have larger salary-gender correlations but didn’t have made claims of discrimination.
In the 80’s, the salary gap was a reality but nowadays or at least for at least ten years ago (as Hutton states), this correlation is a myth as there is little or no salary discrimination.
Even if there is a gap between salaries, the author explains it through different variables such as work experience, hours worked, age and type of PR practiced. Thus, nowadays, gender seems to be replaced with experience and hard work issues. The author concludes his study by saying that it is possible that public relations salaries could include a “little” gender discrimination but compared with the factors mentioned above it is not that significant.

To Be in the Velvet Ghetto...

Studies of women in PR state that besides the existence of a “glass ceiling” on promotions, there is also a salary gap. “There is a million dollar penalty for being a woman”, quoted Cutlip, Center and Broom in “Effective Public Relations”.
A recent survey held by the CIPR and analysed in PR Week showed that 31% is the wage gap between men and women. On average men earn £18,000 more than women, at £57,000 a year.
One series of studies (The Velvet Ghetto and Beyond the Velvet Ghetto) showed that women earned less than men even with the same level of education, equivalent years of professional experience and equal tenure.
IABC sponsored the Velvet Ghetto study (1986) and in 1989 to answer unresolved issues put together a follow-up study: Beyond the Velvet Ghetto. Both studies meant to measure the impact of women on the communication field and one of the results showed that women’s work is devalued by the business world and that they are paid less than men even in the same work position.

Glass Ceiling: Is it a Curse or an Alibi?

Maureen Rice wrote in The Way Women Work that “the glass ceiling has gone the way of the chastity belt”. Furthermore, Rice evokes the results of a survey held by the Equal Opportunities Commission, stating that women considered themselves equal to men.
Still, if women think that the glass ceiling is removed, why all the struggle to evolve?
According to Rice, women themselves are to blame for not having the power. The glass ceiling “... it was a great alibi. While it existed, we could blame our lack of progress in business and public life, on everything but ourselves. (...) The fact is, women are mid-career dropouts, and if they aren’t in the top jobs it’s at least because they don’t want to be”.
Women, says Rice, have different aspirations for work and prioritise relationships, personal interests and families. Susan Vinnicombe, professor of Organizational Behaviour at the Cranfield School of Management, mentions in Rices’s text that for men success means promotions, salary rises and job titles. For women, it means peer respect, being able to use their knowledge, being personally fulfilled and being able to make a difference.
Rice also attributes to women the creation of flexible working. “Disenchanted by the structures and limitations of most organisations ... (women) just walk away from their big jobs ... (and start working) as consultants and freelancers”.

How to Break the Glass Ceiling

As years go by it seems that there is progress towards gender equality. Nevertheless, several researchers agree that the glass ceiling hasn’t been removed, although women, armed with the right strategies, can break it.
Author Scott M. Cutlip offers tips to fight the disparity between male and female professionals. According to Cutlip “women have to get into the game and be as aggressive as any male counterpart”. Women must also develop management skills, “think like managers, talk like managers and communicate with other managers”. Finally, women should aim higher rather than undervalue themselves and should begin by asking for better salaries and negotiate other benefits aside from salary.
Helpful as they might be, these strategies do not seem the answer to gender equality. If women show aggressiveness, ambition and assertiveness, they will just be playing a men’s part or behaving as men expect them to behave in the workplace. By acting "tough", women will be perceived as a “fake” and as “role-players”. Being tough still sends the wrong message in the workplace. It seems that women want to be more like men and they are not showing their own best assets. Even nowadays, men can be ambitious but women are still seen and evaluated negatively when they show similar traits.

PR’s Top 21

PR Week celebrated last year its coming of age with the 100 most influential figures of the industry during the past 21 years. Even though women outnumber men in the field, only 21 female practitioners were acknowledged and only one (Adele Biss) was on the top 10. Here is the list of the female PR super breed:

1- Adele Biss (founder and chief of public affairs of AS Biss & Co)
2- Lesley Brend (Founder and former chairman of the consumer PR agency The Red Consultancy)
3- Alison Canning (Edelman’s former president of international operations)
4- Jackie Cooper (founder of Jackie Cooper PR Agency)
5- Romola Christopherson (late Whitehall’s director of information at the Department of Health and associate of the Media Strategy firm)
6- Jackie Elliot (former PRCA chairman)
7- Lynne Franks (the fashion and lifestyle PR ‘guru’ immortalized as Edina in Absolutely Fabulous)
8- Jilly Forster (former The Body Shop’s communications director)
9- Margot James (co-founder of PR agency Shire Health; and Ogilvy Healthworld Europe regional president)
10- Angela Heylin (OBE) (former chairman of Charles Barker BSMG)
11- Lorraine Langham (MD of public sector consultancy Verve Communications)
12- Sandra MacLeod (Echo Research CEO and the first international board member of the IPR)
13- Dora McCabe (former head of PR for Cadbury)
14- Feona McEwan (WPP communications director)
15- Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Tesco group director of corporate affairs)
16- Sally Osman (BBC head of communications)
17- Jane Reed (CBE) (corporate affairs director at News International)
18- Maureen Smith (The Communication Group director for 20 years)
19- Sally Sykes (former press and PR chief of Manchester Airport)
20- Pamela Taylor (OBE) (Past President of the Institute of Public Relations and a founder Director and Chief Executive of Water UK)
21- Catherine Warne (MD of Red Door Communications and founder of the PRCA's healthcare group)

A Question of Emotion

Richard Wright- Here’s an idea. I’m talking to Brad Rosen. You two could share the work. Five hotels, it’s a big job.

Samantha Jones- I know it’s a big job. (…) I appreciate your offer but I don’t need a partner.

R. W. - Reed between the lines Ms. Jones, I deal with a lot of business… men.

S. J. - What are you saying. Businessmen would be more comfortable dealing with a woman working next to a man?

R. W. - You have a lot to offer. You might want to consider working with a partner who isn’t so emotional.

From the Sex and the City episode - Belles of the Balls