Is our reputation the reason for a female dominated industry?

As a PR student, reputation management is a topic I cannot shy away from. However, the better I understand the Public Relations industry, the more inquisitive I become as to why we – as ‘PR people’ cannot seem to manage our own reputation. Not only this, but PR supposedly serves to create awareness and inform its public’s. So in light of this massively important function: how has my future industry become so saturated with the stigma of ‘fluffy females’ and ‘PR girls’?

Image taken from quicheisinsane under the Creative Commons License

You may notice my lack of reference toward men- that’s because there aren’t many. In 2005, the CIPR released figures that showed that 62% of PR practitioners are female. This begs the question – Is this because women are better at it than men? I don’t believe this is the case; well, at least this isn’t what the facts show. According to a later survey (2013) by the same institute, the minority male population of the industry are twice as likely to become Partners, Directors or Owners. Men clearly don’t lack the talent, skills or drive to become senior in our industry.

Is the media to blame for our somewhat poor reputation and lack of menfolk? There are many examples I could use as to why female practitioners are wrongly portrayed by the media, however male representations are in a short supply. One household name that comes to mind is the notorious and highly successful Max Clifford. Ab Fab’s Patsy Stone is an example of how we are sometimes stereotyped and incorrectly represented. She is shown spending her days drinking champagne, smoking cigarettes and spending her evenings partying and mingling with celebs, while all the while her intern does everything. Is this what our public’s believe, and if so, could the glamorisation of females in our industry be the reason we are attracting so many?

This leads me to question, is our reputation the reason that the business of Public Relations is female dominated – and if so, does it matter? Will it help or hinder us as we grow into the new technological world? According to the same 2013 survey, 50% of PR practitioners believe that in order for a PR campaign to be successful, a team should be equally made up of both genders, agreeing with the idea that a female dominated industry will compromise our success.

Personally I believe our reputation has held us back, and could be the reason we are so overwhelmed with women. However, with a new generation of PR people quickly approaching, will we be able to improve our reputation, challenge previous stereotypes and pull Public Relations a step ahead and into the future?

This post was written by Lucy Bolongaro, a 2^nd year Public Relations and Communication student.