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!).

Even though women had the same pay scales as men in the Navy, they didn't have the same opportunity to compete for some of the preferred jobs. Over the last few decades this has changed. I have seen the first women become midshipmen at the Naval Academy, the introduction of women on the first combatant ships at sea, the first women assigned to combat positions and first female POW (the first Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm), the first women to command ships at sea, the first women to advance to senior flag officer (admiral) rank, and recently the first women to be assigned to submarines, etc. Many leadership opportunities have opened up for women in the military over the last few decades.

However, I see from recent studies that leadership opportunities for women in many other fields, like public relations, still lag behind those of men. This needs to change. I learned during my experiences in the Navy that women are every bit as talented and capable of succeeding in leadership position as men. Mere tradition or organizational policies mired in inertia are often the only thing standing in the way of more opportunities for women. However, there is also the matter of inherited male and female traits that might stand in the way. For instance, what happens if a woman "acts like a man" in order to get ahead in the workplace? Click the following link to read an article from the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald entitled, "Don't want to be harassed? Stop acting like a man."


I have also learned from my studies of public relations theory that women should be given equal opportunities for pay, promotions, etc. According to the excellence theory in public relations, an organization must have at least as much diversity within its employee force as there is diversity among the external publics of the organization. This makes sense, when you think of the old adage, "Practice what you preach." If we promote equality, diversity, and ethical standards in our practices than why do we deny women equal opportunities for leadership in the public relations profession?

I hope we can find some answers to this and other questions this week. After all, I have two daughters and two sons. I would like to see in my lifetime my daughters have the same opportunities as my sons. My advice to young professionals is to avoid taking this issue for granted. Regardless of what you think now, you will find the glass ceiling does exist in many sectors of the public relations profession. You must avoid accepting such organizational policies and, instead, challenge and change the status quo. For seasoned leaders, I would ask you to describe your experience with leadership and gender, explain why the gender gap still exists in our society, and suggest ways that we can promote greater equality.

Thanks,

Mark