Gender Imbalance in Public Relations Industries

For 20 years now the public relations profession has seen a radical change in the ratio of men-to-women working in the field of Public Relations,. For 20 years scholars have studied the phenomenon, and for 20 years they have been talking about its impact on the industry.

I’m wondering if it’s now about time to do something about it.

Today, about 70% of the PR practitioners are women, but wait ’til you see the next generation. The latest figures peg PRSSA membership at 90% female. Those numbers echo and it’s been that way for nearly a decade. Mind you, not everyone who enters this field studies public relations in college, but the gender trend is clear no matter what your degree.

Researchers have investigated this gender shift since the middle 80s, and while their studies don’t tell us why men have abandoned the PR profession, they do offer some hints. Elizabeth Toth, U. of Md., made some interesting observations a few years back in an interview with SU Magazine.

First, she said, “that the reason why men left this profession is because they had many more fields to choose from and public relations was not as lucrative, so they went where the money was. As the men moved away, women began to find public relations a hospitable place to launch careers, a place that didn’t erect the barriers women find in many other professions, Toth said."

Secondly, she said, "Public Relations is considered a very flexible field in which women can balance family and marriage. Organizations seem to prefer women in public relations roles because they think they are better communicators, more nurturing and willing to listen and collaborate. I think organizations began to face pressure from affirmative action programs to hire women and train them for management positions, and public relations seemed like a safe place to put women as managers."

Considering this there’s a lot of good news in that, but organizational sociologists say it’s another way of oppressing women. You offer them a little bit and then they won’t want more.

Why does the gender of your communicator matter?

Because men and women view the world differently. That has more to do with socialization than DNA, I suspect, but there is no denying that men and women tackle PR challenges from different perspectives. Having both perspectives at the table is essential if the industry is to serve their clients and or employers in the right way.

Maybe I’m a lone in thinking this way, but I think the coming 90-10 gender imbalance is bad for the profession — and bad for both men and women. And I also think its time to implement a PR campaign to lure more young men to the field. And also to make a serious effort to attract students of both genders.

Since men are soon to be grossly underrepresented in this field, why not offer them incentives, provided that they can find someone to fund the awards? Why not make a similar effort in the interest of gender equity?

Also have people from this profession that might want to help by offering mentoring and co-op programs. Such programs could help employers deal with their own gender imbalances, also take in men with poorer professions but who have good communication and organizational skills.
I' am sure that most professionals are concerned about the gender issue in public relations and that they would like to see gender balanced in this industry, because both men and women have good ideas that they could bring into this field.