The privileged role of men working in public relations

One of its biggest scandals in the public relations business is why women leave the industry mid-career and don’t progress into senior roles.

The PR Population Report published by the CIPR in partnership with Chalkstream is a grim read from a gender perspective.

The report is the first published analysis by the Office for National Statistics of Census 2021 data related to public relations practitioners.

Here’s the issue.

66% of practitioners below director are female, and 34% are male. The situation is reversed in senior roles. 54% are male and 46% are female. 

Public relations is a young occupation, with 45% of practitioners aged between 16 and 34 years old.

This is the story of female practitioners leaving practice mid-career or not getting support to progress to senior roles. Any fair-minded practitioner working in the industry should view this as plainly wrong. 

There can only be two conclusions: either the scale of the female talent drain is poorly understood, or the industry has ignored the interventions required to bring about equality.

Liz Bridgen is among notable researchers in the UK and further afield who have explored this issue. It relates to issues including opaque salary structures, lack of training and development support, and support for caring responsibilities.

Many applications to Socially Mobile each year are from women returners. Its Impact Report for 2022 reported 51% of graduates identified themselves as falling within this category.

The PR Population Report data is consistent with the CIPR State of the Profession report in 2022. It reported that women accounted for 61% of entry-level roles, and men accounted for 39%. The situation was reversed for senior roles. Women accounted for 42%, and men accounted for 58%.

The issue is also reflected in the gender pay gap. The most recent data from the CIPR State of the Profession report in 2020 reported a gender pay gap of £3,658. The PRCA Census in 2021 reported a gap of £7,000.

The PR Population Report analysis is the largest-ever study of practitioners in the UK.

There were 63,563 public relations practitioners living in England and Wales as of March 2021, according to the census data. 

The number of practitioners is lower than some previous estimates. It may partly explain the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and furlough arrangements and how practitioners describe their occupation when completing the census.

Chalkstream director and researcher Ben Verinder, who led the PR Population Report study, described it as a useful first dip of the data and a starting point for further investigation.

Census data for Northern Ireland and Scotland is not available by occupation making analysis impossible in these regions.

I’m a founder and director of the Socially Mobile Community Interest Company, along with Sarah Waddington CBE. It seeks to address under representation in public relations through management education and training.