By Greg Smith
There never has been a better (or worse) time to be a male PR practitioner.
Results of my PhD study into "The Predominance of Women in PR" show that the industry has perhaps gone beyond the point of no return for achieving any semblance of gender
balance. Although the focus of my study is the Australian PR industry, the similarities with the industry Down Under and the industry in the U.S. are strikingly similar.
Depending on which way you look at it, the predominance of women in PR, which sits at 74% in Australia, is approaching more than 70% in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Labor statistics for public relations in 1960 showed 25% of the PR workforce were women. This increased to 51% in 1983, 65.7% in 2000 and 69% in
2002. At the same time, membership of the PRSA went from 10% women members in 1968 to 15% in 1975, then 54% in 1990 and 60% in 2000. Female participation in America's other
peak communications body, the International Association of Business Communicators is 76%.
The Department of Labor's 2004-2005 Occupational Employment Statistics Survey reports "employment of public relations specialists ... is expected to grow faster than the
average for all occupations through 2012." Similarly, the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics' Career Guide to Industries reports public relations jobs are projected to
increase by at least 19% through 2012, compared to a 16% growth rate average in all other industries.
Similarly, statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and my own census of the Perth PR industry both show 74% of the industry to be female.
Academic Imbalance
The trend is mirrored at U.S. universities. Since 1977, the majority of students enrolled in American journalism and mass communication programs have been female. In the early
1980s, national enrollment patterns stabilized at about 60% female to 40% male, and a similar ratio has also become the norm for graduates of mass communication programs
Prof. Denis Wilcox, head of PR at the University of San Jose, told me in an e-mail last year: "In many of our classrooms now it's almost like teaching in a women's
college. About 80% of our majors are women."
In the four Perth universities I surveyed over a three-year period (2002-2004), the figures show 80% female enrollment in communications courses. If that figure is narrowed to
the two major Australian universities which teach PR (Edith Cowan and Curtin) that figure climbs to 86%.
However, what concerns me is that the imbalance may not be healthy for the industry. Several eminent U.S. professionals expressed reservations about this phenomenon, most
notably Harold Burson, co-founder of Burson-Marsteller, was quoted in a 2001 interview as saying: "Just as it bothers a lot of senior women the field, I am concerned that a
decreasing percentage of men are filling public relations jobs. I believe there should be gender balance. Unless more men are attracted to PR, it runs the risk of becoming a
woman's job." At the time, 70% of Burson-Marstellar's staff was female.
There is also a danger that if the current status continues to exist, the industry runs the risk of becoming "ghettoized." This, in turn, has ramifications. It has been proven
that industries that become feminized run the risk of lower salaries.
Back in 1989, Karlene Lukovitz, currently the vice president of communications at BPA Worldwide, noted a salaries gap between men and women "as a result of past
discrimination and the recent heavy influx of young women into the lower-salaried entry-levels of the profession." She raised concerns that this could flow on to "a decrease in
status and salaries for the profession as a whole."
On the surface, this massive gender imbalance may not bode well for males seeking to find employment within PR, simply because the numbers simply suggest a woman will get the
job. On the other hand, it may serve as a great marketing tool - a unique selling proposition - for those males willing to take up the challenge. As one male practitioner said to
me: "Just the fact I'm a male in a female industry makes me marketable."
Contact: Greg Smith is communication manager for the Western Australian Department of Agriculture and provides consulting services through his company prLAB. He is completing
a PhD on "The Predominance of Women in PR" through Central Queensland University, Rockhampton. He can be reached at [email protected].