Women in public relations

Abstract

This chapter focuses on women in public relations and their distinctive position within the public relations industry. It analyses available literature and then moves on to analyse data from the European Communications Monitor collected in the period from 2009 to 2019, thus providing a decade of trends among practitioners in European public relations practice relating to the position of women in the industry. Nevertheless, the European Communication Monitor (ECM) annually surveys practitioners and asks them, inter alia, about their gendered perceptions of work in the public relations and communications industry. Women participating in the ECM first reported that men dominate higher positions, and women face a glass ceiling and lack influence in the department; as the ECM survey progressed, practitioners started to report better job security for men and a lack of mentorship opportunities for women to develop into leaders.