There are increasing concerns among critics and PR practitioners over whether a large number of women in PR is unhealthy for the field. Many believe that a workplace dominated by women does not function as well as a workplace with representatives of both genders could have functioned. There have been a number of suggestions for tackling this issue, i.e attracting more men into the industry. Some feel harsh measures are needed, like offering men higher salaries than women for doing the same job, or hiring a less-qualified man over a more qualified woman. Others propose implementing special programmes, such as internships or developmental assignments, to bring men into the profession, as well as attracting more male students to the PR educational courses.Personally I think balance is important in every field, and both men and women can bring different aspects into the working environment. But I do not believe large numbers of women are a serious threat to the successful functioning of the PR field. If women posses good traits for the profession, then why should not they be doing a job which suits them best and which they feel comfortable in? At the same time, I still feel the industry should not abandon its efforts to lure more men, as long as these efforts do not include extreme methods like positive discrimination. The PR field might learn from the examples of successful efforts of other industries, like medicine, law and business, where women used to be severely underrepresented, to bring more of them in, and apply these strategies to attract men.
As about prejudices against female workers, it is a shame if some employers or clients still feel that hiring a male representative would equal a job better done, but I feel this attitude is already shifting as time goes by, so I do not think it seriously harms the perception of the PR field. After all, as long as organisations and people need PR services, they will use these services… And as we all know, PR is now more in demand than ever!
4 comments:
I completly agree that the PR industry should be at a balanced level. However, when i was reading through this, the main question that came to my head was 'How many more Women want to enter the world of PR'. We are studing an MA in Public Communications and Public Relations, and with the no exageration, the whole class is dominated by females. Although there are many male entering the field of PR, i think that the industry is will continue to become increasingly more feminine
Intersting you talk about the discrimination and the ratio of higher concentration of women in PR than men. As sexist as it is, from the feeling I got at times having worked in the PR industry for nearly 4 years now, women in PR almost carried that sexiness that men in the past and until this day display towards Nurses and Secretaries! Is that why we see more women in such fields including the PR industry????
The debate on the discriminative attitude to women in comparison with men in their everyday life is an everlasting story... I agree with that it is now time to end it up as there have been enough facts proving the contrary! How come we never say that men are not supposed to be hair stylists, or what should than women do with the fact that best cocks are men..? Suggestions?
Talking about balance, I have no hesitation about relevance men as well as women in PR, but in different field of PR, I mean that different company looks for different gender in PR manager. I could hardly imagine woman as leading PR manager in coal and steel industry, and of course you hardly find any of men-PR manager in cosmethology field. But, anyway, everything depends on person, its communicative scills, interests and "orientation" :)
Mariya
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