Sex sells – faking it in public relations
Women are successful in public relations – UK data shows a 64:36 female:male gender split in an industry worth £7.5bn. In particular, young women are attracted to the occupation – dominating specialist degree courses (by 4:1 in my experience) and reflecting the largest demographic group in practice.
The secret of their success is often stated as [...]
In praise of publicity – a woman’s history
I’ve yet to come across Constance Hope in any public relations textbook – perhaps not surprising as women are largely missing from the history. Indeed, apart from Doris Fleischman, I am unaware of any female voices writing about early experiences of the practice in the US; and Fleischman’s contribution inevitably is linked to her husband [...]
PRoust Questionnaire: Nelly Benova
The PRoust Questionnaire provides a quick insight into a public relations practitioner’s interests and point of view, as well as their professional beliefs and values. If you are not familiar with the original 19th-century Proust Questionnaire, please see details at the end of this post.
1. What is your most striking characteristic as a PR [...]
PR – it’s a woman’s world
It is nearly 25 years since the publication of Cline’s ‘Velvet Ghetto’ study of women in public relations which responded to the increasing feminisation of the occupation. Undeniably today, the field is one dominated by women – indeed, based on my UK experience, 90% of the students on undergraduate PR degree courses and studying for [...]
Facing up to the PR talent challenge
One of the interesting outcomes of my position on the boundary of PR academia and practice is that I’m often asked for recommendations about finding PR talent.
This frequently applies to recruiting placement students (interns) or young graduate practitioners. However, at the PR career starting point, there are many who advocate a specialist degree is not [...]
Is there such a thing as European public relations?
By Janette van Kalkeren
The European continent comprises 51 countries with a total of 837 million habitants. Of these, 27 countries (500 million citizens) are members of the European Union (EU), within which there is free movement of people, goods, services and capital; 16 of these countries have the same currency, the Euro. So does this [...]