The Future of PR

The number of women entering into PR will continue to increase and shows no sign of slowing down. Organisations such as the CIPR’s Women in PR group created in 1962 and Washington Women in Public Relations (WWPR) created in 1980 seek to provide an outlet for women. During these times women were the minorities, so these organisations provided professional development and networking opportunities for them. Although these organisations still exist, there should be similar societies for men to attract more males into PR.

It is great that women have entered into PR and are flourishing. However, I feel that with every career there should be an equal balance between men and women. If PR is supposed to be about communicating to the public, there needs to be equal representation from both genders.

With PR expanding hopefully, there will be more males entering into this field. But what will it take to have them enter into this predominately female based field? Could male organisations that seek to recruit more males work? If not, what will the future of PR look like 10 years from now? Will men become obsolete in PR?

Organising parties and working with celebrities? Now that's a job I want!

My class had a discussion of how our friends and the public would describe the type of person that works in PR. One of the main conclusions was that people would describe PR practitioners to be females who like to party and socialize. This was because most people see PR as working with celebrities and organizing parties/events. Looking back at Moloney’s theory that PR is seen as girly because it involves organising parties, I realized that this conclusion could have been derived from mainstream media.

The famous television show Sex & the City, features a wild and social female character, Samantha Jones who works in PR. Ms. Jones is a successful PR executive who is always shown organising and throwing lavish parties that are attend by wealthy and successful people. Her job looks fun because she deals with sexy male clients and works sometimes with celebrities. This show demonstrates the glamorous job people believe PR practitioners do.

If I didnt know what PR involved and just saw this ideal image on TV, I would be attracted to PR. If all I had to do was organise parties and rub elbows with the rich and famous, that would be great! Could this ideal image of PR in society be attracting women?

Are women just better communicators?

Although Kevin Moloney’s theories that I stated in my previous blog seem sexist and based upon stereotypes, I believe that a majority of people would agree with him. I asked several of my friends of why they thought more women were in PR and they all agreed that women are better at communicating, which is fundamental for PR.

Ideally the purpose of public relations is to provide a two-way communication between an organisation and the public. It would seem natural than for women to enter into PR since they would be better at communicating and dealing with various people. For generations women have been known in society at being better communicators than men.

Is this just a stereotype or is it true, do women just have a natural trait for effectively communicating? Could this explain the increase of women in PR? Are they just doing a job that comes second nature to them?

Theories of why women enter into PR

In thinking about the previous comment that women just started entering into the working force in the 1960's, I wonder why they picked PR. In reading Kevin Moloney’s book Rethinking Public Relations: The Spin and the Substance, he offers several suggestions to why women dominate PR.

1. “Many women started as PR secretaries and progressed to PR managers since there are no entry qualifications.” (pg. 139)
2. Women are good at communicating.
3. “Usually made by journalists: PR is for ‘girlies’ with a ‘penchant for organizing fabulous parties.” (pg. 139)

The Gender Shift

It is interesting how PR used to be dominated by men and then over the years women have taken over. As early as the 1900’s men were the ones doing PR for businesses and the government. The Institute of Public Relations (IPR) revealed that in 1987 men outnumbered women in PR 20:80. Then in 2004 IPR revealed women outnumbered men 60:40.

In 2007 PRWeek magazine stated that 63% of PR practitioners are women. These statistics demonstrate that the number of women entering into PR is increasing every year. Just within 3 years the number has increased by 3%.

What is causing this gender shift? Why are more women attracted to PR while it has the opposite effect to males?

Where are all the men?

My first day of class in my postgraduate course of Public Communication and Public Relations, the question everyone seemed to be asking was... where are all the men? Out of 30 students in my MA program there are only 3 males. This had me thinking back to my undergraduate years where only 2% of my classmates were males.

I graduated from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) with a BA in Communication. Upon researching I found that in my entering year there were 783 students in my Communication major and the majority were female. I knew all the males in my major by name because they were so few. Most of the males at UCSD were in the biology and engineering field. It sounds very stereotypical that men are studying to become doctors and engineers.

In discussing about stereotypes in my Masters course, one of the males said that men in PR have the stigma of being “gay” because PR is associated with females. Has PR become the next field considered “female based” like nursing and teaching? Is that why males do not enter into PR?