#5 Liz Yeomans_Women in PR with Ana Adi

The workforce in PR and communication agencies in particular is primarily female. Female staff in German PR agencies represent about 69%, in the US is at over 70 percent and in Romania above 95 percent. This is what we call feminization of the workforce: when a profession is dominated by and associated with women. Now this has a variety of implications: on perceptions of the profession and its professionalism and contribution to society, on pay and on career progression. If a job is perceived as feminine, salaries tend to be lower and its contribution to community/society is diminished as less innovative, less ground-breaking. For PR in particular, the general assumption is that because women are naturally more social, more collaborative, they are made for PR, for building relationships and maintaining them. Is it so or is that a social expectation that we are fulfilling? And while PR job market continues to grow and salaries tend to be higher than in other industries (at least at entry level), with some exceptions, leadership positions in PR still continue to be dominated by men. How do they get there? Dr Liz Yeomans has recently retired but remains rather active, continuing to supervise doctoral works and reviewing for public relations and communication management journals. She’s been working with Leeds Business School at Leeds Beckett University since 1994, having had an extensive career in government and local government communications prior to that. Check out Dr Yeomans' book - Public Relations as Emotional Labor - here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315687162