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