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?
6 comments:
It is true that PR is now a female-dominated industry. According to Wilcox, D. and Cameron, G.(2007),women form about 70% of the USA PR industry. This influx of women to the PR field is attributed to a lot of factors which includes women being good listeners and good communicators than men. However, I read that the women practitioners are paid less compared to their male counterparts. Also, most of the women work at the tactical level of PR where as the men take up management roles. I am worried about such discrimination in terms of salaries and roles. Because although women form the majority they don't benefit as much as their male counterparts. Maybe the industry can be restructured to attract more men to give it a good balance to reflect the society in which it is practiced. Whilst making sure that the salary gap is bridged and more women are given the opportunity to occupy managerial positions.
It is frustrating and unfair that a pay gap between women and men in PR exist, especially when women dominate PR. The sad reality is that I hear about gender gap in wages all the time from other professions as well. The only solution to enforce equal pay would be making PR companies reveal each employee's wages to ensure both genders are being paid equally.
In deed, it is very infuriating in an industry like public relations where women are the majority, to be paid less than men in the same posts. However, this is not something new. This discrimination exists in many professions. Maybe there should be a law in order to force companies or agencies to pay the same wages if the employees have the same post, duties and have also similar or same qualifications.
Melina
http://melinatod.blogspot.com
I completely agree with you, cos women have naturally always been good at communicating and we are doing a job that comes naturally to us..but however because of societal discriminations, we are paid less and somehow arent taken seriously..i agree with melina in terms of a solution because being a woman the discrimination worries me..
I think that's sadly funny that women are supposed to be better communicators and don't manage to communicate enough about this salary gap!! Maybe it's because decision makers are mostly men? But still, I'm sure that a wide spread and strong campaign organised by women (and some men who wants more equality!) could change things...
Your right women should be communicating equal pay. However it is true that men are the big decision makers although they are the minoritories in PR. Hopefully women will finally fight for equality in pay since they dominate PR and this is a big issue.
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