My Final Thought

Given the extension to our forum, I thought I would close with one more post that reflects on the different ways men and women are "wired" and how these gender differences affect us at work and at home. In 1994, Dr. John Gray, the author of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," published another wonderful book, "What Your Mother Couldn't Tell You & Your Father Didn't Know." In this book, he describes how times had changed, and the ways our mothers and fathers fulfilled their roles at work and at home no longer worked in the 1990s. Imagine how much more these roles have changes since the1990s!

In his book, Gray observed, "Without same-sex role models, women in the workplace experience frustration because they don't know how to be themselves and be successful" (p. 27). He then wrote:

     "When women spend their days behaving in traditionally masculine roles, it is clearly tremendously difficult to remain feminine. Working on a very structured timetable, making decisions based primarily on the bottom line and not people's feelings, giving orders when there is no time to share the decision-making, calculating strategic moves to protect herself from attack, creating alliances based solely on profit margins and not on friendships, investing time and energy for personal gain rather than others' benefit, all contribute to the impoverishment of the feminine soul. Put simply, the world of work does nothing to nurture women's spirits, and is dramatically damaging to the quality of their intimate relationships" (pp. 27-28).

Gender Gap: Looking Back & Ahead

Visitors to our discussion are encouraged to keep posting and commenting to this blog through the end of the week. Our scheduled activity ends tonight, Friday, Nov. 19, at midnight. However, we have decided to keep the forum open through the weekend for anyone who still wishes to publish posts or comments. We know many of you have been busy this weekend and were not able to post. Our blog will remain open for viewing indefinitely.

I wanted to thank everyone who participated in this week's leadership forum. The comments, resources, and insights you offered have contributed enormously to our discussion and to our learning experience. Thanks, also, to the many readers who have visited our blog.

Click this link for interesting statistics and my closing thoughts:

What I'm Taking Away

Thank you everyone for offering your insights into this topic. These discussions helped me realize that women currently are dominating the public relations industry but have yet to dominate those top level positions. I think with time women will overcome prejudices and be able to earn those positions on a fair playing field with men. We do have a lot of things in our favor helping with the cause. There are programs dedicated to helping women succeed and their are now laws that protect against discrimination in the workplace. With time I think gender equality in the workplace will significantly increase and I'm looking forward to joining the professional world in two years knowing I will be accepted, equal to a man.

-Alexis Murphy

Geoff Brackett, Executive Vice President, Shares Literary Perspective of Gender Gap

Dr. Geoffrey Brackett,

Executive Vice President,

Marist College

I am interested in following up on the discussion of the metaphors explored in this blog by giving a bit of the historical context for the ideas behind them. I am specifically interested in the expression of the idea of the “invisible” nature of the experience of the glass ceiling because it articulates the difficulty in causal linkage—the phenomenon exists but is not traceable. It also speaks to a broader, more cultural cause rather than an individual cause.

As a scholar of the Eighteenth Century and Romantic Period in English Literature, I thought I would share the fact that two of the most important intellectuals of that period, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Blake, wrestled with the issue.

Cathleen P. Black: Role Model

Cathleen P. Black, between New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (left) and 

outgoing New York City Schools Superintendent Joel Klein.

There is a great story in today's New York Times about Cathleen P. Black, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's choice to become New York City Schools Superintendent. According to the Times:

"She grew up sheltered and privileged, in a middle-class Irish enclave of Chicago at midcentury, attending Catholic schools and riding horses at a country club where blacks and Jews were not allowed. Yet from age 28, she blazed a trail for working women, persuading male-dominated Madison Avenue to get behind an upstart magazine called Ms."

One of Black's colleague's even referred to her as "the closest thing to Superman that exists.”

Click here to read the article and learn how Cathleen Black has managed to shatter the Glass Ceiling and move out of the Velvet Ghetto.

John Wayne and Working for Women

I happened to watch the 1969 Paramount movie True Grit last night. The movie is a classic, starring John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, a crusty old, one-eyed U.S. Marshall; and Glen Campbell as LaBoeuf, a young Texas Ranger. The two law-enforcement officers agree to lead a young woman, Mattie Ross (played by Kim Darby) on a search across the West for her father's murderer. I see that Paramount is about to release a 2010 version of True Grit, starring Jeff Bridges as Cogburn and Matt Damon as LaBoeuf, so I wanted to watch again the earlier version.

Click here to read more and watch a clip that relates to our discussion.

Friday Wrap-Up: Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Welcome to the last day of the Marist Red Foxes PRSSA 2010 Leadership Week! We've had some great discussions and points made throughout the course of the week. Today we will look back at our experiences over the course of the forum and then consider how to apply them as we look ahead. Where do we see the future of PR?

On Tuesday we talked about the "glass ceiling" and "velvet ghetto." Dr. Aldoory introduced the metaphor of a "layered glass ceiling." in which there are layered phases of status in the professional world and the glass become thicker and harder to break as one climbs the corporate ladder. On the other hand, Mike comments on the "death of the old boy's club" and notes the prevalence of females in the public relations industry. Other's agreed that the glass ceiling still ultimately exists but it perhaps may be easier to break through.

Wednesday we transitioned into work-life balance. Alyssa questioned why women can't have it all. As cultural norms shift away from stay-at-home moms, why can't women balance a successful career while raising a family? Jennie provided some excellent advice about how to achieve said balance including understanding one' priorities, knowing when to ask for help, and maintaing one's emotional and physical well-being. We also looked at what this change in gender roles may mean for men. Wednesday's topic is extremely pertinent to current trends in the field and was reflected in the amount of responses we received.

Yesterday we looked at perceptions and expectations, particularly the issue of equal pay. Missy brought up an excellent example about the cultivation of gender differences at an early age and used the example of children on the playground. This lead to Jennie's point about women not receiving higher pay because they simply fail to "make the ask." Mark also made some very good points about gender perceptions in general, including an anecdote from his childhood and an experience from the Navy.

We've definitely had a great week thus far and I look forward to seeing the posts about the future of PR and the gender gap within the field.

Sabrina

How Perceptions and Expectations Are Formed

There has been much discussion this week about the influence of culture (even parental influence) on our perceptions about gender and the way men and women act in society. During my public relations career in the Navy, I had the dubious distinction of serving as a senior spokesperson for two scandals that involved men abusing women. One scandal, which occurred in 1991, has become known as the Navy "Tailhook Scandal." The other  involved abuse of a young female midshipman who was handcuffed to a urinal in a male bathroom and photographed as a "prank."

In both cases, at first, the abuse was characterized as routine fun, a kind of "boys will be boys and girls will be girls" thing. Later, the Navy realized the magnitude of the abuse and finally woke up to the fact that such abuses have their roots in organizational culture and can destroy morale and the social fabric of even the best institutions. According to PBS's Frontline, the investigations into the Navy's Tailhook scandal suggested "that the entrenched attitudes that permitted a Tailhook to happen -- the ugly side of the warrior culture -- survive[ed] within the naval establishment and prevent[ed] it from moving on."

Click here to read more about Tailhook. It involved naval aviators at an annual convention in Las Vegas getting drunk, groping women, participating in sexually explicit skits, etc. Finally, one young female aviator, an officer and an aide to an admiral, had enough. After being groped in a hallway and having her clothes nearly torn off she reported the incident to her senior officers. After experiencing delays in the handling of the case, she went to the news media, who ran with the story, which went international.

As director of the Navy's news operations in the Pentagon, my office had to deal with an angry press corps and public. It was an important education for me. The abuses by naval aviators -- and even early attempts by Navy leaders to cover up these abuses -- sickened me. I am proud, however, of the Navy public relations leaders above me and around me in the Pentagon. We took a tough line by insisting that the Navy release to reporters and the public as much information about Tailhook abuses as possible (even photographs depicting abuse, which were taken by participants at Tailhook) and as quickly as we could (without violating privacy laws or interfering with the investigations that were underway). This information proved embarrassing to the Navy but it would have been even more shameful to withhold this information just  because it was embarrassing.

I remember coming home from work one night after dealing with the Tailhook episode for months, wondering how men, especially my fellow officers, could treat women this way. I took my two young boys aside and had a long talk about this and explained how we cannot afford to let our society or culture lead to mistreatment of women or other minorities this way.

Throughout the rest of my career in the Navy, I saw positive changes occur as a result of what we learned in Tailhook and other similar scandals. More opportunities have been provided to women, and they have proven to be just as capable of being great leaders as are men. Since Tailhook, the Navy and the Department of Defense have made great strides in changing an organizational culture (e.g., "warrior mentality") that denigrated women. I hope our public relations profession learns the same lessons without having to endure scandals like those faced by the Navy. I hope all of you learn to identify organizational cultures around you that prevent equal treatment of women and men. When you do encounter such policies and activities, as a public relations professional you are honor-bound to try and change them!

It's about time we learned,
Mark

Perceptions Will Change...Hopefully

We were discussing this in my Gender, Culture and Communication class yesterday. I think a large part of why women still aren't getting equal pay is due to generational differences. It will take time for women to finally get the same pay as men and more leaderships positions but we are heading in the right direction. If many CEOs are in their 60s, 70s, or 80s, they come from a different generation which includes the mentality that men are more valuable in the workplace than women. Once these people retire, companies will have the ability to be more progressive and change with the times.

A basic expectation of mine of the work force is that if you work hard, you deserve to be rewarded. I used to think that if you work hard, you will be rewarded, but this week's discussion has put things into perspective for me. It is only fair that regardless of your age, race, and gender that you should have an equal chance at upper-level positions and higher salaries, but that unfortunately is not the case. I am actually saddened to know that such prejudices still occur in this day in age. I am more sympathetic to the idea of men thinking women don't deserve leadership positions, because it is a norm of our society that men typically have more leadership positions, but I think the unequal pay is completely unjust. I'm sure companies claim that the reason for lower pay is because of a person's work ethic and job performance but it would be interesting to know what basis their reasoning comes from for not giving equal pay.

-Alexis Murphy

Thursday: Perceptions and Expectations

Great job yesterday with the discussion about work-life balance! Today we will be transitioning to perceptions and expectations. Many young public relations professionals enter the workforce under the assumption they will receive equal pay in the field. After all, two candidates with the same capabilities and qualifications should be treated as equals regardless of gender, right? Not quite. The field field unfortunately still places men in higher positions of leadership with larger salaries. A recent European survey found men are twice as likely to earn a higher salary than women in PR. How can a field dominated by women still uphold traditional conceptions that men belong in higher positions of power? Could this ever change?

We are seeing an increase in women leaders. Woman who are extremely capable and deserving of their top-level positions. Perhaps this trend will continue into the future and we will begin to see more of an even playing field, especially with so many determined women taking the initiative to do so. The book, Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men--And What to Do About It, provides some great insight on this issue. You can find a preview of it here. It discusses some of the reasoning behind why men still are paid more in nearly every field and what women can do to "get even."

Have a great day and happy posting!

Sabrina

"Husband, I'm homeeee!"

Work-life balance, especially as a budding young professional, is extremely important.  While not only establishing one's brand and delving into the industry as possible, it is also essential to maintain a steady social life just to keep sane!  However, seeing as we are discussing gender roles in the PR industry, it is very important to note the drastic differences in work-life balance between men and women.

Regardless of the fact that the "Mad Men"-esque days of the 1960s are long gone, women are still expected to maintain the household.  As much as it should be an equal job split between husband and wife or mother and father, women continually assume the responsibility for such things as packing school lunches, doing laundry, cooking, and so much more.

It may seem like an easy fix... hire a nanny or encourage the idea of a stay-at-home dad.  Yet, with an economy in the pits, a cleaning lady or babysitter cannot be included in most families' budgets, especially that of young professionals just starting a family.  Furthermore, being a stay-at-home father does not appeal to most men and it may be hard to live on one income.

Ultimately, what needs to be assessed, is that men and women should be pulling both their weights in balancing work and life.  Every person has their own responsibilities and, while it may be hard to juggle, it is important that everyone fits in the simple pleasures in life when possible.

Work-Life Balance According to Jennie

Ah, work-life balance. As I was driving to campus this morning I was thinking about what I could contribute to today’s discussion. Of course, it’s now dinnertime and I’m just getting around to posting these comments (so much for balance today). With that said…

Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as 9-to-5 in the public relations profession. This is a service industry, and that means we need to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Think about it: whether it’s a new business pitch, an urgent media call or a crisis situation, we have to be ready to respond. However, the trick to long-term survival – particularly for those who struggle with work and personal/family/home responsibilities (see Mark’s “superwoman” comments) – is to attempt to find some balance. A few thoughts to consider:

Understand your priorities. Juggling multiple responsibilities under conflicting and ever-changing deadlines is a critical skill for public relations professionals to master. To survive in this industry, you need to know what’s important to your boss and your clients. Make their priorities your priorities. But here’s a tip to help keep your sanity: know what’s due right now versus tomorrow or a week from tomorrow. I can say with some certainty that your “to-do” list will be there tomorrow. It will never get shorter – trust me – so stay focused on what’s important right now, get it done and then make time for the other areas of your life.

Know when to ask for help. Public relations is a deadline-driven industry. Communicate early and often about the status of your work. If you’ve hit a road block or are running behind schedule, it’s better to speak up before a deadline rather than make excuses after.

Maintain your emotional and physical well-being. This is a demanding profession, and you need to be at the top of your game every day. Don’t just focus on work. Spend time with family and friends. Exercise. Have a hobby. Being a well-rounded person will improve your work performance, not hinder it. I once had a doctor tell me that if I kept up at the pace I was going, I’d never make it past my thirties. Ouch. While I still forget his advice from time to time, I somehow managed to survive that decade and make my may into the next by finding some spare moments to relax and recharge.

As Alyssa asked in her blog, is it so wrong for women to want it all? I feel we should be able to have it all. The question is whether we can. Or maybe the better question is “How do we strive to have it all and still maintain balance?”

I have a paperweight on my desk that’s inscribed with the word “balance.” It’s a constant reminder of what I’m still trying to achieve. Have you found it? If so, let me know!

Thanks,
Jennie

Great Participation In PRSSA Leadership Forum!

Here's a midweek update on our 2010 PRSSA Leadership Forum. After three days, we have received over 100 visits to the discussion blog and visits by nearly 50 people. Furthermore, visitors account for nearly 600 page views (6 pages per visit) and have spent an average of more than 10 minutes on the blog (no doubt reading the interesting posts and materials!).

We experienced a sharp climb in activity over the last two days. Thanks for your participation and contributions to our discussion. Please spread the word and encourage others to visit and participate.

Regards,

Mark

Thanks ... and Beware, Superwomen!

Thanks to those who have blogged about the work-life balance today. You raised some excellent points.Sabrina started us off this morning asking us to think about where we place our loyalties to career and family.

Emily mentioned, "I know for me personally, if I was a mom of three children, had a dog, and a household to run, I would not want the extra responsibility of being a CEO of a large PR firm."

Alyssa asked, "For men, 'wanting it all' is applicable to accomplishment in their careers, where as women still find a fulfilling home life to be a major part of life’s success. Is it so wrong for women to also 'want it all' in a business capacity while putting a house and children on hold?"

See my comments to Emily and Stephanie earlier in the blog today. I for one dedicated a lot of time and energy to my career, and enjoyed professional success as a result. However, the time this took away from my wife and children represents a distinct "downside." Looking back I realize I should have done a better job balancing my priorities, even if it meant giving up some of the time I spent trying to succeed in my career. At this point in my life, I appreciate how important it is to succeed at being a parent, spouse, family member, etc. Think about this as you begin your careers.

Also, for women, be careful of the "superwoman syndrome" ... trying to "have it all" in terms of career, family, personal life, etc. You risk burnout if you stay on that track. Click here to read an interesting advice column by a marketing professional, which appears on a Microsoft Business site. Also click here to read another column about "superwomen" in a British newspaper.

Finally, keep blogging. By the end of the week we should have gained some amazing insights into gender and leadership!

Thanks,

Mark

Alyssa's Introduction and Thoughts on Work-Life Balance

Good afternoon all! I'm Alyssa Bronander, a senior studying Public Relations and Communications Studies with a minor in Global Studies. As the integrated communication intern for the Marist School of Communication and the Arts I have been posting news about this blog on Twitter and Facebook, and thought I would join in on the conversation as well...

Work-Life balance has become increasingly relevant to me and my peers as we are approaching the job market and, frankly, growing up. As we spend less time on Facebook and more time on Linked In our priorities are shifting from class registration to resumes. While pondering my future I often think about navigating my career path through a dismal economy, in which my field seems to be the first to be cut in many industries. In these conditions, the competition of landing even an entry level job is daunting enough, to think of achieving a home life before landing a promotion seems unreasonable.

My recent study abroad experience has opened my eyes to the many societal differences between cultures, but work-life balance had never been discussed in my intercultural communication course in Italy. This is why yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article, “Italian Women Strive to Snap Stereotype” caught my eye. Traditionally the overwhelming majority of women in Italy have exclusively occupied the home sphere and “female stereotypes are deeply entrenched in the national consciousness”. Valore D (standing for Valore donna, or value woman) is a new type of women’s association which mentors, builds skills, provides role model for Italian women in the corporate world. These services will most definitely enrich the work-life balance of Italian woman and inspire others to rethink traditional gender roles.

According to recent research by Euro RSCG Worldwide, “the millennial females surveyed were more likely than males to emphasize life-work balance over salary when choosing a job”. I find this worrisome. With new couple paradigms of partners sharing both the household tasks and bread-winning, more people are measuring the success of their family as they would a business, by working together to keep the venture (family) moving forward to increase profits of happiness/satisfaction. For men, “wanting it all” is applicable to accomplishment in their careers, where as women still find a fulfilling home life to be a major part of life’s success. Is it so wrong for women to also “want it all” in a business capacity while putting a house and children on hold?

Wednesday: Work-Life Balance

Good Morning,

I'm pleased to see the discussion, so far.  A lot of good points were made. Today we will be discussing Work-Life Balance.  In today's age, we are for from the misconception that women should stay in the home to maintain the household and have cookies ready for the kids to come home from school.  This is no longer the standard, nor is it expected from every woman.  We see high powered female executives and women who choose to cultivate a career alongside a family.  But how do they balance the two lifestyles? Are they expected to still fulfill a "housewife" role even as they juggle a 9 to 5?  What about the new phenomena of stay-at-home dads? Has the line been completely blurred?  Is there even a line?  I feel this topic will produce an excellent conversation and I look forward to seeing where it goes.

Have a great day and see you on the forum!


Sabrina

Emily's Introduction and Response on the Glass Ceiling

Hello Everyone,

My name is Emily Moran and I am currently a junior at Marist College. As for PR experience, I am secretary of Marist Red Foxes PRSSA and I previously had an internship at THINK Public Relations. In the spring, I will be interning for Spring O'Brien, working mostly with business and financial clients. Like Courtney mentioned before, THINK PR is a fashion and beauty agency, run entirely by women. However, Spring O'Brien has a fair distribution of men and female employees. Even though the president of the company is male, the vice president is female. This is what interested me about Spring O'Brien, the fact that there is gender diversity. This follows the excellence theory in Public Relations that Dr. Van Dyke expressed in an earlier blog comment.

With this being said, I do think that the glass ceiling still exists, but I feel as if it is becoming less prevalent in today's society. As we can see from our internships, perhaps it is simply based on the type of PR we are exploring. The glass ceiling most certainly does not apply at THINK PR, but it could very well apply to a Sports PR firm. I think that it is important to assess this concept based on interest. How many female Sports Comm majors are there really at Marist? Yet, how many male Fashion Merchandising majors are there? This follows the idea that just because a company does not have a female CEO, does not necessarily mean that they are against a woman holding a powerful role in their company. Maybe a woman simply wasn't interested in that industry.

What I found surprising from the UC Davis "Glass Ceiling" Study, 2007 video is that upper level executive women are found more in Health care and Financial industries, whereas men upper level management is dominated in the Communications and Computer industries. I would think that Health care and Financial would be dominated by males, especially because I sense that at Marist College, finance majors tend to be more prevalent amongst men.

As a result, I would like to know if women are not holding top executive jobs because they do not want to or because they are truly being discriminated against due to their gender. Are we automatically assuming that a male got a job promotion over a female because he is a male? Or is there more behind it? I know for me personally, if I was a mom of three children, had a dog, and a household to run, I would not want the extra responsibility of being a CEO of a large PR firm. What does everyone else think?

-Emily Moran

Stephanie's Introduction

Hi Everyone,

My name is Stephanie and I'm a senior PR major at Marist. This is my second year involved in the PRSSA and I'm in the process of completing my third internship at the American Cancer Society. I'm excited to graduate in May and begin my career in the PR industry.

I've enjoyed reading other contributors' previous posts about gender differences in the public relations field. I found this to be a particularly interesting blog discussion to follow because the idea of inequality and gender differences within this so-called "soft profession" had never occured to me.

When Professor Van Dyke spoke to us about this blog discussion today in our PR Case Studies class I was surprised to learn PR was referred to as "soft". From experience I've gained in prior internships and classroom experiences, PR is far from soft. I find this industry to be fiercely competitive. Because of this, it seems as though only the thick-skinned are successful, similar to what earlier posts have mentioned. Having thick skin is not a quality I attribute to one sex over the other. Public Relations is a field in which professionals are required to be on the ball from everything to current events to trends on twitter. Being "on top of your game" is a characteristic that can be attributed to one's drive to succeed as opposed to their gender.

Ultimately, I believe gender has little to nothing to do with the level of success a practitioner will reach in the PR industry. I hope that in the future with women continuing to enter this profession and rise up to executive positions this will no longer be an issue.

-Stephanie Jackman

A Technology Tip

Here's a tech tip for posting on our blog in this leadership forum. To reduce the length of each post displayed in the blog without reducing content, use the "jump break" option that you can find in the rich-text toolbar of the text box when you are typing your post.

The tool appears looks like a torn page (right) and appears between the video tool and the alignment tool on the toolbar (below).

To abbreviate the length of your post, simply place your cursor near the beginning of your post (e.g., after the first paragraph) and click the "jump break" icon. It will automatically place a break with a link that viewers can click to "read more" of your post.

For example,

The Death of the "Old Boy's Club"

I think the topic of the velvet ghetto and glass ceiling are very important to note.  I think it is completely within reason to suggest that a discrepancy exists between the proportion of female workers and executive positions.

As I stated in my introduction, I intern in the PR department of my school district at home.  One thing that was always discussed was the "old boy's club."  Teachers and faculty members in the district (predominantly female) would refer to the leadership of the school district (since it's inception and leading up until midway through the 2000's) as being an old boy's club littered with men.  However, after a restructuring of sorts, five of the seven principal positions are currently occupied by females and other departments, such as technology, food services and special education, are also head by women.

While education is a bit removed from the public relations field, I feel this example greatly depicts the shifting work environment across the nation.  It seems that as women hold more positions, ultimately they can rise to power to better represent the industry as a whole.

Yet, as a male, it's assumed that I would have no problem with men being in high level positions.  However, female executives are beneficial not just in the public relations industry, but in any industry for that matter.  They breathe new life into the working environment and, naturally, provide certain things men can't... nurture and a more caring approach to clients and colleagues.

Therefore, as I commence my foray into the field and hopefully launch a successful career in public relations, I don't seek colleagues that are male and relatable.  I seek an environment that is fair and equally represented with as many female executives as employees.

Are women's disadvantages giving them advantages?

In my previous post I mentioned how I worked as an intern at a small public relations agency in New York City and how all of the upper level management was men and the account executive positions were dominated by females. The other two interns I worked with were also female. I've been thinking about how Dr. Aldoory said, “many account supervisors were female and they decided how to pitch clients and how to plan campaigns." Her experience reflected my internship, and it made me think about how the female account executives are putting in some really time-consuming hard work and how the upper level executives are not putting in as much effort. I understand the concept of "paying your dues" and climbing the corporate ladder but since there is a clear gender division, you have to wonder if this situation is fair. At my internship the CEO didn't come into the office on Fridays, instead he played golf. The other two male principals came to the office every day but arrived a little after 11am whereas the account executives came in a little before 9am. I just always wondered if gender played a role in this situation. If the upper level executives were female who had all male subordinates, would they arrive to the office so late? I think the fact that the executives of the company were all male, they felt they had more freedom, especially since all their subordinates were women.

Professor Van Dyke touched on affirmative action and I am actually writing my research paper for my Gender, Culture, and Communication class about that topic. Affirmative action is usually associated with cultural minorities gaining a bit more of an advantage in applying to colleges or for jobs through programs and organizations. I recently attended the New York Women in Communication, Inc. Student Career Conference in New York City, and although the organization is open to men, it is mostly made up of women and the word "women" being in the name even makes it feel exclusive. I understand these affirmative action programs and feminist organizations are trying to help women and minorities gain a fair advantage in the workplace but sometimes I think they are getting more than just a fair advantage. Women fought to be equal to men but now I think we are being portrayed as trying to surpass men rather than stride for gender equality. I'm interested to hear what you all have to say about programs like this that help women gain an advantage. Do you think it is fair, or are they actually putting us a step ahead of men rather than making us equal to them?

-Alexis Murphy

First time for Aldoory

This is the first time I have participated in a blog forum such as this, so I apologize in advance if I post in the wrong place or comment somehow in error! I would like to focus on what I perceive as a "layered" glass ceiling, which is my way of thinking about this metaphor in perhaps a more complicated manner. I do not think of a glass ceiling as yes, it is there, or no, it is not there. I think of it as different layers or phases of professional status and rank, and as status and rank go up and up in prestige and power, that is where the glass gets thicker, harder to break, and perhaps even more smudged and harder to see through (to keep with the metaphor!).
1. Example in the university with public relations departments and journalism colleges: In our department the director of undergrad and grad studies are women--these are IN the dept and the positions hold no ability to fire, hire, make salary decisions, etc. The chair of the dept is a woman who does have power to fire and hire, but her "pot" of money actually is decided by the Dean. The Dean is male. And in fact, across the University of Maryland all the Deans are male except 1. There are assistant deans and associate deans, etc., some female, but they do not control the power of the money. And of course, provost and president are male.
2. Example in public relations agency: When I worked at Hill and Knowlton (DECADES Ago, which shows my age!) many account supervisors were female and they decided how to pitch clients and how to plan campaigns. However, the senior manager of the Dallas office was male, and the CEO in NYC where I worked in business development was male. There are many many examples of females now in senior VP positions across agencies, and many women-owned agencies now. However, take a look at the boards of directors, the one CEO head, and the chief Financial Officers, and you will find that they continue to be male.
3. Final example: Professional associations. PRSA is moving toward equity in senior leadership and over the last 10 years has had women in the positions of chair and president. The current board of directors and president comprise 40% women, which is one of the highest proportions of women found on boards and executive leadership of our professional societies. The Arthur Page Society has only 2 women on the President's Council, representing former presidents; and 30% of the Board of Trustees are women.
These examples tell me that the reason why we need to continue to consider and discuss a glass ceiling is because of its impact on power and decision making in the public relations profession.

My Response to the "Velvet Ghetto" and "Glass Ceiling"

Thanks, Sabrina, for sharing the article with a reverse example of a man in a female-dominated profession (nursing). Let me start by defining a velvet ghetto. The term has been traced to a 1978 Business Week magazine article that referred to efforts by organizations to achieve affirmative action goals by creating employment opportunities for women in soft jobs that would enable them to enter the workforce but not compete with men for management positions. The term, along with "glass ceiling," has become a standard way of describing how women are trapped in areas of their profession (ghettos) that have an artificial ceiling, which prevents advancement into senior leadership positions. 

I think we should also consider how cultural norms and stereotypes about roles for men and women in society affect development of velvet ghetto and glass ceiling phenomena. Our beliefs about which jobs might be appropriate from men and women might explain why we in the United States think it's unusual for women to hold senior leadership positions and for men to work in the nursing field. Think about the following research regarding cultural views of gender roles.

Tuesday Discussion: "Velvet Ghetto" and the "Glass Ceiling"

Thank you to all who provided introductions and welcome to Tuesday's discussion. Today we will be looking at the concepts of the "velvet ghetto" and the "glass ceiling." I invite you to visit our "Readings and Resources" section for information on these topics. I especially advise those unfamiliar with the term to look at the Velvet Ghetto Summary Report.

As we have already seen in observations made during our introductions, public relations is compromised mostly of females with males still dominating upper-level and executive positions. On the other hand, we have seen many intellectual and strong female leaders in the field, as Jennie pointed out. I feel we may not come to a definite conclusion on this topic, but it should make for a compelling conversation. In addition to the other resources, I ask everyone to take a look at this article. It questions the existence of a reverse glass ceiling for men, particularly in fields that attract more women. I found some of the points to be rather interesting, especially a male PR professional explaining, "Public Relations is a very social field [....] It requires a lot of cultivation and nurturing of clients and women tend to be more nurturing and social in that way" (Merritt). Should we consider the "glass ceiling" to be more of a two-way street than we previously thought?

Sabrina

Courtney's Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Courtney Davis and I am a senior public relations and advertising student at Marist. I currently serve as the National Delegate for our PRSSA chapter and I formerly held the positions of VP and President. I interned at Saint Francis Hospital and THINK Public Relations as a PR intern. I also interned at Hasbro for 2 summers in their marketing department and at CVS in their merchandising department.

I think the public relations profession has a unique issue with the gender gap. As others have said, our classes are predominantly female. THINK PR is a fashion agency run entirely by women. Our entire executive board is made up of women. This industry is saturated by women. This is a stark contrast to the other industries I have worked in. Hasbro is a company run mainly by men, with only one of the C level executives being a women. There is still plenty of room for advancement there but it's not a women dominated field.

I'm excited to hear more about what everyone thinks about this issue and how people have overcome limitations to prove their worth as a female. I'm also interested to see how men have helped women overcome the gender gap.

-Courtney Davis

Michael's Introduction

Hey everyone!  I am Michael Bernardini, a sophomore Public Relations major and member of Marist's PRSSA chapter.  I am actively seeking an internship in the PR industry, but have experience working for the PR Department at my school district back home.

There is no denying that a gender gap exists in the field of public relations.  Not only are there about five males in our chapter, at the PRSSA National Conference we attended last month, there seemed to be only one male per represented school.  While I do not necessarily mind such a gender gap and believe it could possibly give me a leg up in the hiring process, I am not so sure it is the best thing for the field as a whole.  As Professor Van Dyke just posted, it can create a somewhat "soft" image or even steer away certain clients.

As we discuss leadership and the gender gap, it really is quite interesting to note how the public relations industry is unlike any other field out there.  I am anxious to know how other males feel and cannot wait to hear everyone else's thoughts and opinions!

"Balkanization" of the PR Field by Women?

Meghan and Alexis made some interesting points today about some sectors of the public relations field being dominated by women, even though men still fill the most senior leadership positions (what some refer to as "Balkanization" of the field). I thought I would chip in another post and offer some more food for thought from Robert Heath's (2001) Public Relations Handbook.

Megan's Introduction

Hi! my name is Megan Hunsicker I am a senior PR major here at Marist, I am also the Vice President of Chapter Development. I have interned at two companies. The first is The Brooks Group which is a small PR agency located in the city, and the second is Jackrabbit Toys, which is a boutique toy company based in Princeton, New Jersey. Both of the CEO's, as well as all of the employees, are all females.

I do feel that a gender gap exists in PR, if you take a moment today to look around in your PR classes you will notice that the majority of the students are females. Like what Alexis said in her post, I have found when I am applying for internships all of the other candidates are females, even after I got the internship, all the other past and current interns were female.

With that said I do feel that the gender gap is most prominent in certain PR sectors. For example in the female dominated agency, The Brooks Group, their clients are in the fashion and makeup industry as well as celebrity chefs from the food network and interior decorators. One of the main reasons why I was so eager and excited to intern with The Brooks group was because I really liked the clients they worked with.

I think that in the more art or talent related sectors you will find are dominated by women, however in the entertainment, sports, finance and even some health care sectors, are more heavily populated by men. Not to be gender biased or to generalize, but I think it also has to do with what interests each gender, most men are more interested in sports then fashion.

I can not wait to see what everyone else has to say!

Jennie's Introduction

Good afternoon.

By way of introduction, I spent the 20 years prior to joining Marist College doing public relations in various organizational settings – corporate, agency and public/non-profit – and in such diverse fields as food and financial services. While I believe that the gender gap still exists today (and I would agree with Sabrina that it’s more perceptible in certain sectors), I’ve also had the pleasure of working with some highly capable and inspiring leaders, female leaders, during my time in the workforce.

As an undergraduate student, I can remember learning about Dr. Elizabeth Toth’s research on this issue. I encourage all of you to review some of her recent work posted under the “Readings & Resources” section. While I feel that we’ve made strides in dealing with the gender gap during the past two decades, there also is more work still to be done.

Thanks,
Jennie

Alexis' Introduction

Hello everyone!

My name is Alexis Murphy and I am the Vice President of the Marist Red Foxes PRSSA Chapter. I am a junior PR and Advertising student. This past summer I had a public relations internship in New York City and the CEO and two principals of the company were all men, and all the account executives were women. For the most part, it has been said that the public relations industry is mostly dominated by women but seeing these gender roles at my internship made me wonder if women just made up the lower level positions while men still held the higher level positions.

I think the gender gap most definitely exists in public relations. When I go for interviews for internships, most of the other candidates are females. I even notice this in my public relations classes. More women are in my public relations classes whereas more men are TV/Radio/Film majors or advertising majors. I feel that women dominate the fashion, travel, and hospitality industries of public relations. I think more men are involved in the entertainment industry as well as corporate communications, crisis communications, and financial communications.

I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's insights on this topic!

Mark's Introduction

Left to right: Arden, Mark,
Elizabeth Van Dyke,
U.S. Naval Academy

Thank you, Sabrina, for your nice welcome and introduction. I'm looking forward to this discussion and I hope it produces a dialog that we can learn from. The topic of gender and leadership is important to me. During my career in the Navy, I experienced significant changes in the way the Navy -- a male bastion -- treated women. (P.S. I thought you would enjoy this picture of me, to the right, in my early Navy days.Yes, that's me, between my mother and father, about my current students' age, as a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. Very retro!).

Monday Kick-off

Hello All!

I'm very excited to welcome everyone to the Marist Red Foxes 2010 PRSSA Leadership Week. First and foremost, I would like to thank our invited leaders for taking the time to participate in this event. We appreciate your insights and are fortunate to have so many perspectives present in the conversation. The concept of Leadership Week was developed last year to cultivate a healthy discussion about various leadership issues within the field of public relations. Based on the great success of the 2009 forum, Leadership Week has become a part of Marist PRSSA tradition.

This year, we will examine "Gender Gap: A Leadership Perspective." The issue of gender is particularly interesting within the public relations landscape. In a field seemingly dominated by women, the gender gap is still very much present. We hope to address this issue and answer some questions of our own. Are men in significantly higher positions of power? Does the glass ceiling still exist? What about the velvet ghetto? How does work-life balance differ between gender? What can young professionals expect for the future? As the workforce becomes increasingly more diverse, it is our job as leaders to look at the changing (or maybe not so changing) dynamics of the public relations field.

Before posting, we ask that you look at the numerous links that run across the top of the blog. You will find important information about the forum guidelines, schedule, and invited leaders. There are also numerous readings and resources to help guide the discussion and provide talking points. Feel free to post additional resources as well (articles, YouTube videos, pertinent Twitter profiles, etc.) We hope for this to be an engaging experience, so please read what others have to say before you post your own thoughts to avoid repetition.

Today, we will have introductions and icebreakers. We would like everyone to introduce themselves and provide a background on their experiences. I'd like to start it off. My name is Sabrina Clark and I am a senior Communications (Public Relations) and Spanish major. As I hunt for internships and jobs for post-grad, I've noticed a trend of more males as my competition at job interviews. This is even more evident when the position was in-house PR. Anytime I've interviewed with a large company to do internal public relations, I have encountered other male interviewees. After thinking about this, I'd like to pose these questions for today: To what extent do you feel the gender gap exists? Is it possible that the gap is more evident in specific PR sectors?

Once again, welcome everyone. I look forward to our discussion. Remember to keep checking back, as there will be different topics to look at each day.

Sabrina Clark

Chapter President

Welcome!

Welcome to the 2010 Marist College Red Foxes PRSSA Leadership Forum. Building on the success of our inaugural leadership forum in 2009, this year’s leadership forum will focus on the “The Gender Gap: A Leadership Perspective.” The forum will consist of five days of interactive discussion, from Monday, Nov. 15, to Friday, Nov. 19. Discussion among invited guests, academic leaders, scholars, practitioners, and students will examine from scholarly and professional perspectives how gender influences pay, opportunities for promotion, work-life balance, and other aspects of the public relations profession.

The concept of this forum exemplifies the mission of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), which calls our chapter "to serve our members by enhancing their knowledge of public relations and providing access to professional development opportunities" and "to serve the public relations profession by helping to develop highly qualified, well-prepared professionals." The abilities to lead and manage leadership communication are vital traits of successful professionals. Hence, this online leadership forum among Marist College PRSSA members and experienced leaders is designed to promote a deeper understanding of ways that leadership can help members achieve PRSSA's mission and develop into communication professionals.

Please visit our chapter's main blog and go to our "Annual Leadership Archive" page to read the history behind this event. Before entering the discussion, please read the guidelines, schedule, readings and resources, and background on invited leaders by clicking the respective pages along the navigation bar at the top of this page.

We will begin our discussion on Monday morning, Nov. 19. Look for a welcome post from our forum moderator, Chapter President Sabrina Clark. Once Sabrina kicks off the forum with her post, we invite everyone else to publish a post to introduce themselves and share their thoughts about the discussion question and topic for that day. You may also follow up with comments to selected posts, which will help us establish and maintain an interactive dialog. We will begin Tuesday, Nov. 20, with a new discussion question for that day's topic. Again, follow up with your own posts and comments. We will continue this process through Friday, Nov. 19, when we will summarize our thoughts and share lessons learned from the discussion.

If you have questions, please contact our Chapter President Sabrina Clark or Faculty Advisor Dr. Mark A. Van Dyke.

Thank you to our featured leaders and to all participants who have taken time out of your busy schedules to join our forum. We once again welcome you to the discussion and we offer our best wishes for a successful, thought-provoking event.

Sincerely,

Mark