Last week, in my English 2135 class, we had a research paper due. You could choose to research and write about anything, as long as it fell under your major. We had a brainstorming assignment where we had to write down all of our ideas, and I filled the page with dead-end propositions and pretended to be unsure about my topic. In reality, I knew my subject as soon as I read the prompt: women. Societal gender roles and women’s equality have always been something I’ve personally been passionate about, and when mixed with my major, I had created the perfect research question for myself: Why aren’t there more women leaders in the public relations industry? But, for some reason, I didn’t want to stop there. For the first time ever, after I hit the submit button… I kept working. I kept researching. I accidentally opened up a rabbit hole that I still haven’t stopped falling down quite yet.
Public relations (PR) is a heavily women-dominated industry, yet approximately 70-percent of top PR positions are held by men. PR is a quickly-growing industry, best described as the management of communication between an organization and the public. It’s an extremely versatile industry because virtually every company (and even individuals!) use PR to help grow a successful company or personal image. Women have been at the forefront of the “pink industry” for a while, yet we get paid less, are less likely to get promoted and experience exponentially more workplace discrimination than men. Due to years of promotional barriers, double standards and the pressure of stereotypes, women in PR have taken on fewer leadership skills. But as Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to the US Congress once said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
What discrimination are women in PR facing, and how does that affect them in terms of leadership? In a study done by Iowa State graduate Elizabeth Krugler, several participants were interviewed and asked about their experience in terms of advancement in the world of PR as women. “I think men tend to be able to access the funds, the money to build large businesses,” said one participant. “I think women have the power of verbal, written communication and relationship management skills that can often trump access if the access is equal. If women had greater access, then we’d have even more power,” she continues. Despite PR having an overwhelming majority of women, “It’s a male industry. It was built by men. It’s definitely more skewed toward men in management, like the leaders, and in PR the tactical people that are actually doing work are more female.”
So, how do we fix this? To increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace for women, mentorship has been considered one of the most effective ways to do so. Mentorship, done correctly, focuses on the potential of what women can become rather than “fixing” what they are. Unfortunately, women often see themselves as less capable in the workplace, but mentoring can help solidify confidence in those skills. However, it’s important to note that women often do not have the same access to senior leadership as men do. This is because a mentor is more likely to seek out a mentee that they are like, and vice versa. And, because there are more men in top executive positions, men are more likely to get a promotion from a mentor than women.
In addition, it would be naive to think that any major progress could be made without male allyship. After all, aren’t men currently the majority of positions of power? However, a 2010 Times study stated that 72-percent of global executives agree there is a direct connection between gender diversity and business success, yet only 28-percent say it is a top-ten priority for senior leadership.
In 2022, being successful in public relations is still challenging for women. But every day, everywhere, there are people of all industries and backgrounds who are dedicated to creating and one day truly achieving an equal workplace environment. The work is far from over, but if anyone can do it, it’s women.
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