Women In PR: How Generations Of Female Voices Have Been Excluded From The Industry's Story
Public Relations has seen a tremendous amount of growth over the last century and with something so seemingly new it's hard to appreciate the long and impactful history public relations has.
This is a history filled with so much merit but also a lot of discrimination that is not always talked about.
Discussions about equality and race, for example, are happening all around the world in a very public way, and often fuelled by PR. But at the same time, the history of the industry itself (and even current reality) reflects the world at-large, rather than what the public narrative is striving for.
Perhaps by acknowledging the inequalities in PR itself we can begin to transform some of the broader social issues.
TIEJA Inc. wanted to give you a little intel on the history of PR, but what stood out to me as I began my research is that women are not included in the story. And not because women had no role, but because women's voices were not shared at that time.
With women currently comprising roughly 75% of the PR industry, it’s important to understand how that came to be.
Records from the 1800s in show that women like Amelia Stewart Knight and Cecelia Adams (who are not really considered in the context of Public Relations) acted as managers, conflict resolution professionals, community advocates and leaders while travelling across the country building schools and churches, and building relationships with Indigenous communities--in essence, they were in the business of communications and PR.
The truth for a lot of women in these times was that their work was not as recognized.
It wasn't until the 1900s where the foundation of today's PR was laid that we began to see women leaders recognized.
Women like Barbara Hunter and Muriel Fox had a large part in this by not only being the first women to found and run major PR agencies, but they also worked off the side of their desks to support the fight for equality within organizations and in media and an even larger part in creating a world that supports women and a media landscape that represents their reality.
These powerful women that I mentioned played a major role in the development of PR and took large steps to ensure more equality for the coming generations.
They created and supported efforts for women and were amongst the first women to fight for women's rights. Without these women, the landscape of PR would be very different today.
Today, the number of women on boards of Fortune 500 companies has more than doubled, from 9.6% in 1995 to 22.2% in 2017.
Given the changing demographics of our society and the issues women face, perhaps it's time to take a new look at that history so we can look ahead to how to shift the story we want for the future.
This post was written by Emet Marrale, Content Creator Intern.
Emet is a recent high-school graduate, with an interest in multi-media, film and business.
He assists with a variety of content projects including video production, graphic design, marketing material, and blogging.
Emet’s artistic eye helps us bring new ideas to life, and push our creative vision to new heights.