During Women's Month, a lot of brands and companies are celebrating women in various industries and positions — as they should. One thing that became clear with all the celebrations is the fact that women in general are currently dominating the PR industry. We decided to find out why.
We can debate for hours and hours about the whole 'Future Is Female' movement, but regardless of where you stand, we can all agree that women run the future of PR.
In 2023, 68% of the PR industry in the United Kingdom were women. In the United States of America, it was 66%.
I am no math wiz, but that is definitely more than half — which is funny, considering that a man created the concept of PR back in 1904.
What is the reason for the uptake of female energy in the PR industry?
Alrika Möller from media update is piecing together how women broke the PR glass ceiling.
Emotional Insight
Those are some big words, but they basically mean that women are exceptionally good at maintaining relationships.
To be successful in PR, you have to be able to build — and foster — relationships with clients, vendors and the media. That means you have to understand people's needs and emotions without them having to spell it out — a skill that most women have in spades.
We are social creatures, and PR is a social industry.
Collaboration
No matter what task you are tackling when it comes to public relations, you cannot do it on your own. PRs need a team of people with different skills and insights to make things happen.
Team collaboration can be a tricky situation, though. You need to be able to listen to the people in your team and work with them, not against them. That means you need to have empathy, which is commonly not regarded as a very masculine trait.
The University of Cambridge did a whole study on the matter and — not so shockingly — discovered that women are way more empathetic.
The truth of the matter is that anyone can excel at PR if they put in the work. For right now though, women run this particular world.
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We shouldn't focus on women for just one month a year! Check out these Female-focussed brand partnerships.
*Image courtesy of Canva