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Time’s up: Closing PR’s gender leadership gap
Celebrating women once a year isn’t enough – the PR industry must commit to long-term changes in leadership, policies, and workplace culture to retain its female talent .
March is often the month where the PR industry comes into its own in championing women and promoting gender equality to mark International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. Yet the data and experiences highlighted in the Missing Women report suggests the industry has some way to go if it is to lead by example in addressing gender equality in amongst its own workforce.
The women I interviewed (and the overall survey respondents) represent a diverse set of backgrounds, circumstances and career pathways; from main household earners in senior leadership roles to those who had moved into self-employment to gain more autonomy over their work-life balance and women with no formal caring responsibilities.
Despite these differences, they shared common experiences of how their perceived ability and assertiveness, support available during significant life stages, and compromises between work and their home lives have influenced their career opportunities and progression.
The PR industry’s lack of action
The findings add to a growing number of studies and insights that highlight issues specific to PR that are symptomatic of wider societal gender dynamics. They will be familiar to many, and there is merit in exploring these issues from different perspectives, work settings and geographies. However, in the context of the recent population data, the findings show the impact that a lack of action is having on the industry’s ability to keep its diversity of talent and experience.
There are clearly no easy solutions but organisations making progress treat retention as a strategic priority, with a comprehensive approach that challenges deep-rooted culture at the same time as changing policies. This looks like:
Targeted leadership development opportunities that are tailored to support emerging and underrepresented talent, form part of succession planning and are strengthened by wider activities focused on adapting workplace culture.
Ensuring that inclusive workplace polices are implemented with the right level of support from managers, so women are not penalised for requesting them. How people interpret and implement policies should also form part of accountability frameworks measuring inclusive workplace practices alongside mandatory measures such as gender pay audits.
Providing enhanced support across different life stages that better recognises the range of caring responsibilities, specific impacts of women’s health on workplace wellbeing and the significance of structured return-to-work programmes to support women’s ambitions following parental leave.
When taken together, these interventions can enable women to thrive. In an industry where women make up more than 60% of the workforce through to mid-career, creating inclusive workplaces through both policy and culture makes good business sense. PR organisations can lead the way in stemming loss of talent and retain a wealth of skills and expertise beneficial not only to their business but the wider profession.
Isobel Wilson-Cleary is a communications and engagement strategist working in higher education and research, specialising in stakeholder engagement, partnerships, and policy communications. She is an advisory board member for the University of Leeds’ Horizons Institute, an interdisciplinary platform addressing global challenges, and a non-executive director for We Don’t Settle, a youth-focused arts and heritage CIC.