Feminisation Of PR and the Glass Ceiling

About 20 years ago, the PR industry changed from a male dominated industry to female, and at one stage the ratio of women to men in the PR industry in the UK was 65:35. In the MA in Public Relations class at the university of Westminster for example about 88 per cent of the class are women and are  the majority on most undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Some  reasons for this dominance are

• The  industry is flexible for women up to a certain point,
• Women are more capable and better at communication than men, 
• Women are  naturally good multitaskers and therefore able to perform everyday PR tasks better than men.

As the number of women increased, so the men diminished and the stigma formed that the PR industry is a woman’s world and tagged the pink collar profession. Despite this  dominance of women however, the top positions are held by the few men in the industry!


Why is this the case and can women ever break the barriers? Lets find out.

Women lack the "M factor"

M factor being management qualities- apparently women are excellent at running a home, as well as working at marriage and having a career. When it comes to running a business however, "women do not have the capabilities to do so".

Family Affairs

Women at some point in their lives, take a break away from careers to start and run a family. The break away from work and upon their return to work the need to balance work with family life means that they are excluded from the top squad which demands total commitment and therefore the other sex.

Culture

In some cultures, such as in Africa and in some Arab states, it is the men who lead and therefore have the senior positions in companies. Women’s roles are deemed to be at home and therefore very difficult for women to get to the top.

Power Struggle
Getting to the top involves a power struggle which men can do easily and would fight for whereas women are more content to leave the men to have that fight. Those women who tend to are seen as bitches.

Fast forward twenty years on and is this still the case? Yes although more women can be found at the top than before. Why, because women are still women and are the ones still having babies. Although the testosterone levels in women have increased, the increase not significantly so to make women take part in the power struggle.

But this is changing.
Some women are

• Deciding not to have families at all in which case one obstacle removed and are able to take on the management function
• Some women ar delaying starting families hence can have the career, get to the top and then start their families at which point they can decide to retire.
• Combining careers with families and although not easy are able to do so very well

Women not getting to the top therefore is not about them not being capable it is about the choice women make.

More information on this topic can be found in Grunig, L, Toth, E and Hon, L’s book Women in Public Relations: How Gender Influences Practice.