Progress in gender diversity in public relations remains painfully slow in many ways, but Time’s Up for the field. According to The Homes Report, women make up about 70% of the PR workforce, but they only hold about 30% of the top positions in the industry. The Plank Center hosted a free webinar titled “Women and Leadership in Public Relations.” The Center’s 2017 Leadership Report Card found that being successful in the field is still challenging for women—the pay gap is real; the opportunity gap is real; and the being-heard-and-respected-gap is real. The webinar discusses bridging those gaps, including action items for current leaders at all organizational levels. Led by industry professionals: Julia Hood, founder, Pop-Up Media and AgendaZoom Jacquie McMahon, senior account executive, Ketchum Donnalyn Pompper, public relations professor & endowed chair, University of Oregon Brian Price, corporate communications manager, Starwood Retail Partners And moderated by Leah Seay, assistant manager, public policy communication, General Motors. To view the archived webinar, go to The Center's website: http://bit.ly/PlankWebinars

1. FOR LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN & LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC RELATIONS
Thank you for joining us for today’s #PlankWebinar!
We will get started in a few minutes.Throughout the webinar, please ask questions using the
Q&A box at the bottom right-hand side of your screen.
We will be answering them at the end.

2. Meet the Panelists
Julia Hood
Founder
AgendaZoom
Brian Price
Corporate Communications Manager
Starwood Retail Partners
Jacquie McMahon
Senior Account Executive
Ketchum
Dr. Donnalyn Pompper
Public Relations Professor & Endowed Chair
University of Oregon
Leah Seay
Assistant Manager, Public Policy Communication
General Motors

3. • Opportunities: To be hired, promoted, and take leadership
positions.
• Pay equity: Fair and equivalent remuneration regardless of
gender.
Equity: What is our industry doing about it?

4. • #MeToo and #TimesUp have found their way to the advertising and PR industries.
• Just as the conversations have broadened from sexual misconduct and harassment to
more conventional, less criminal, discrimination.
• But these are not new concerns for our industry …
A sense of urgency

5. The word is out

6. Already an active discussion

7. With notable activists

8. Frustration and mobilization

9. Getting active

10. Getting active

11. What can you or your company do?
• Participate, and encourage staff to participate, in salary benchmarks like those done by the
professional organizations, PRWeek, and The Holmes Report.
• Investigate successful equity models in the industry.
• Interpublic’s Women’s Leadership Network
• Review state laws as they evolve around this issue, and consider adopting new standards ahead of
legal requirements.
• Salary history questions during interviews.
• Discussing salaries with colleagues.
• Engage with professional association – including The Plank Center.
• Upcoming PR Council webcast on (www.prcouncil.net): Pay Equity in 2018, Principles to Guide the Conversation.

12. Take ownership: The Salesforce example

13. Take ownership: The Salesforce example
In that review in 2015, Salesforce analyzed salaries by pay, job function,
level, and location. If unexplained differences in pay popped up, it made
salary adjustments.The process affected 6% of the company’s 17,000
salaries and cost the company some $3 million. Benioff estimates that
the next adjustment will cost a similar amount.The company has a
market cap of $52 billion.
Salesforce had pledged to review its gender pay gap on an on-going
basis, and the need for another adjustment underscores the nature of
pay equity—it is a moving target, especially for growing companies. It’s a
never-ending obligation, to be monitored and discharged from year to
year. – from Fortune

14. Take ownership: The Salesforce example

15. An ongoing process
• The Salesforce example shows us – this is an ongoing process that needs
vigilant and constant maintenance.
• Candor and transparency is important to establishing trust.
• Get help – from industry partners, outside experts, and the executive team.

16. Taking Individual Action:
Mentor & Be Mentored

17. • Development Dimensions International
(DDI) study found:
• 67% of women rate mentorship as highly
important in helping to advance and grow
their careers
• 80% of women in senior roles had served as
formal mentors
• 63% of women reported that they have never
had a formal mentor
Women and mentorship

18. • Formal vs informal
• Mentorship vs sponsorship
What does mentorship look like?

19. • First step: Ask!
• “My mentors have taught me to be a
little bit tougher, to not let the
everyday ups and downs get to me, but
to persevere and be a stronger leader
as a result.”
– Barri Rafferty, CEO, Ketchum
Why (and how) should we seek mentorship?

20. Why should we be mentors?

21. To sum it up: Don’t be afraid to ask – or say yes

22. Work-home life balance issues
further strengthen the glass ceiling

23. Historically, women deferred to their husbands' superior intelligence
and physical strength; dictated women's dress code
Today, women are told they can do it all!
Yet, the conversation almost always is about suburban, middle-class
women
Cult of Domesticity

24. • Second-shift is only one variable
• PR as flexible, family-friendly field
• Lure of a feminized field
• Stressed trying to be perfect at work, home, and have perfect
body
• Men still out-earn women and advance quicker
Women’s Slow Ascent

25. • From “too nice” to “lean in”
• Business, finance experience
• Leadership, mentors, networks
• Commitment questioned
Decades of victim blaming
“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. No biological,
psychological, or economic fate determines the figure that the human
female represents in society; it is civilization as a whole that produces this
creature.”
– S. de Beauvoir, 1949

26. • Work-life balance framed as “woman’s issue”
• Key factors are degrees of organizational support, career-path
interruptions, gender, salary, primary care giver status
• “Workaholic culture”
• PRSSA students expect conflict!
• Negative work environment increases conflict, whereas
professional support decreases conflict
Finding from PR scholarship

27. Partially supported
80.6% career work > 41 hours/week
57% primary household breadwinner
42.8% satisfied, 35.7% unsatisfied with balance
40% have considered leaving their field because it’s too hard to
balance home life and paid work life
H1: Communication career workers report dissatisfaction with
communication career-home life balance.

28. Not supported
Even though females reported being more likely than males to
consider leaving their communication career due to challenging
career-home life balance, the difference is not statistically
significant (p>.05)
H2: Females who work in a communication career express
higher degrees of dissatisfaction with communication career-
home life balance than male counterparts.

29. Not supported
No statistically significant difference between two groups
H3: Communication career workers in a for-profit setting
express higher degrees of dissatisfaction with communication
career-home life balance than nonprofit counterparts.

30. Supported
Statistically significant (t=3.303, p<.01)
We suggest spouse/significant other not helping around the
house – or respondents think they can do it all.
H4: Communication career workers with families do not rely
on their spouse/significant other to perform more domestic
responsibilities.

31. Supported
No gender difference (t=1.216, p>.05)
H5: Communication career workers perceive that females
with children tend to experience fewer career growth
opportunities than colleagues who do not have children.

32. Supported
"I take work home and do it at home.”
31% few times/week, 31% few times/month,
27% every weekday, 7.3% every weekend
"At home, I talk about my work.”
58% sometimes, 42% regularly
"At my workplace, I talk about my home life.”
75% sometimes, 22% regularly
H8: Communication career workers report a permeable border
between work at the office and work at home.

33. • Collegiality – Addressing expectations about filling in
for one another – “Mommy Wars”
• Flexible boss and workplace schedule
• Ability to perform communication career work from
home
• Establishing parameters
• On-site day care at work
• Workplace culture of support to avoid guilty feelings
Action items to maintain good communication
career-home life balance

34. Millennial Men and the Glass Ceiling

35. Millennial Men and the Glass Ceiling
Millennials are as old as 38, as young as 21, and
roughly 40% of the workforce; we’ll climb to 75% in 10
years
Millennial men and women have similar work attitudes
regarding diversity, inclusion, opportunity and
flexibility

36. Shared Values
Millennial Men Compared to All Women in the Workforce

37. Shared Values
Millennial Men Compared to All Women in the Workforce

38. It’s More Than a “Women’s Issue”
In order to attract employees, regardless of
gender, increasingly companies are being
asked to provide flexibility historically
associated with women
Why?

39. 2014 study by Working Mother
46% of U.S. Millennials reported their mother returned to work before they were 3
years old, double from the Baby Boomers
Nearly half of Millennials said their mother earned the same/similar wages as their
father
Identifying for race/ethnicity, Millennials are only 56% white, and attuned with
diversity issues

40. Men Shouldn’t Retreat; Instead, Engage
Men may feel unnaturally sensitive to
avoiding faux pas, leading to withdrawal
Men should instead be encouraged by
their company to be mentors to women on
staff … more meetings, more coffees, but
accompanied by concrete remarks related
to the potential mentee’s work
performance

41. Key Takeaways
• Pay equity is a process that will require ongoing, direct engagement with
employees and industry associations
• Don’t be afraid: Seek out mentors and opportunities to be a mentor
• Hold organizations accountable in valuing employees who seek to achieve their
maximum potential at work and at home.
• Millennial women and men have similar work attitudes regarding diversity,
inclusion, opportunity and flexibility, which should improve the gender gap as
they become more representative of the workforce

42. Question & Answer
Please ask questions using the Q&A box at the
bottom right-hand side of your screen.

43. FOR LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN & LEADERSHIP IN PUBLIC RELATIONS
Thank you for joining us!