Why public relations diversity efforts are falling short
Despite decades of research and a surge in activist activity, the public relations industry remains unchanged. So what’s the answer?
Race, Diversity, and Social Mobility in the Public Relations Industry, a new book by Elizabeth Bridgen and Ileana Zeler, argues that diversity initiatives in public relations are failing to improve the nature of the practice.
The authors state that while activist interventions have an important role as change drivers and means of community support, they aren’t making a difference to the makeup of agencies or in-house communications teams.
Socially Mobile, a nonprofit initiative I co-founded in 2021 to provide management training to practitioners from underserved communities, supported the project by providing access to its alumni community.
Numerous factors explain the lack of progress, but ultimately, the forces maintaining the status quo are too strong. The cultural barriers in society are too high, and the systemic issues within practice are too great for piecemeal interventions to make a meaningful difference. Intersectional issues compound the problem.
The recent Missing Women study, produced by Socially Mobile and published by the CIPR, drew a similar conclusion. It sought to understand why 4,000 women fail to make it into senior roles in the UK industry.
Race, Diversity, and Social Mobility in the Public Relations Industry sets out the business, ethical and moral cases for diversity. Diverse organisations make better decisions. Public relations and corporate communication teams should represent the public and the organisations that they serve.
The book is a rigorous and thoughtful work in three parts. The first section examines the literature in this area from the last 20 years. The second section explores the issue through interviews with practitioners with lived experience, including Socially Mobile graduates. The final section draws the arguments together and looks forward.
The authors use multiple datasets, notably the CIPR State of the Profession 2024 Report, to support their argument.
Issues within practice include employers hiring in their own image and in the perceived image of the agency or organisation’s client. Those practitioners that do break through lack visible role models and support. Practitioners from underrepresented communities become exhausted and leave the industry.
These issues have been well known in public relations practice since the 1980s. Researchers, including Cleo Bourne, Lee Edwards, and Anne Gregory, have investigated diversity, inclusion and power imbalance in the public relations industry over the past two decades. Their work is cited throughout the book, among others.
At a recent discussion of activist leaders in London hosted by Farzana Baduel, Lee Edwards said that cultural change takes at least two generations. That change starts with diagnosis, followed by policy.
Thanks to Elizabeth Bridgen, Ileana Zeler and other critical researchers, we’re building a solid knowledge base. Activist initiatives are driving policy.
The optimist in me says we’re just starting the journey of change.
