If you have listened to current music in the past year, you were bound to hear the song “Run the World” by Beyonce.
Here is a link if you haven’t : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U
Why am I bringing up Beyonce in my blog which is focused on PR and social media?
In today’s society, women dominate the PR industry, making up nearly 85% of the industry. According to an article written by PR Daily, “Within the Public Relations Society of America, 73 percent of the membership is female, a spokesman said. The society includes 21,000 public relations and communications professionals nationwide, along with an affiliated student branch.”
With this obvious dominance, one may ask “why is there a lack of diversity?”
There have been several posed answers to this question. Maybe women are just smarter than men? Or women are more persuasive then men, women are more approachable then men, or the nurturing side of a woman makes them easier to trust. Whatever the answer may be, studies have shown that women excel in writing, presenting, event planning and technician needs, all of which are characteristics of a good Public Relations representative. The numbers don’t lie folks.
Although all of these answers could be true, it is still evident in our society that men dominate top positions in companies.Ergo, the Glass Ceiling. Women may compose the majority of the PR world, but we are still paid less than males in equal positions.
What this all means is that if you’re male, highly intellectual with really good organization and communication skills, plus the charisma and personality to make your presence felt, you’ve got a really good chance of making it big time in PR.
Maybe girls do “run the world” … well the PR world that is.
I really enjoyed your blog post because I think gender issues in the workplace are important topics people don’t discuss as often as they should. For example, although I subconsciously picture women when I think of what a “PR professional” looks like, I never realized they truly make up an overwhelming majority of the PR industry, with the exception of the highest-paid positions, where men still dominate. I have observed this trend in the news world as well. The larger and more respectable the newspaper, the more men comprise its newsroom — especially its editorial staff. This doesn’t surprise me, as news is still a male-dominated field, according to recent data. Your blog post, however, was very surprising, because it doesn’t make sense to me that the top operators of a female-dominated field are males.
This is a great topic! It was interesting to hear that women make up such a large part of the PR world. It is definitely reassuring and encouraging. All of this said, I find it odd that in such a female dominated work force, males are still holding the top positions in companies. Why are females getting the short end of the stick? There have always been gender issues in the work place and there always will be, but it is nice knowing there is a female dominated field out there. Hopefully as time goes on, women will be able to prove themselves and get those higher positions; then maybe someday woman will run the PR world!