Gender Issues in the Diversity and Practice of Public Relations in the UAE Case Study of P.R. Male Managers and Female P.R. Practitioners

Abstract

This paper evaluates the feminization of Public Relations (P.R.) and how that may shape the role of P.R. in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). One goal is to highlight the implications for the unique females’ functions between male managers and female P.R. practitioners. Research questions include: What are the common challenges and gender issues in public relations in the UAE? Do P.R. managers encourage the recruitment of female workers and leaders in the P.R. field? Therefore, the findings of the research are based on qualitative primary data derived from semi-structured in-depth interviews with the P.R. managers and P.R. female practitioners. The paper concludes that UAE public relations staff members continue to execute their main roles. Therefore, male and female workers differed significantly in their views about gender fairness in work locations, roles, status, ranks and tasks, responsibilities, and work-life balance.

Towards internal marketing practices in enhancing job engagement

“…Intrinsic factors include many issues such as employee communication, employee development and employee support. On the other hand, extrinsic factors include other issues such as organization image, rewards and recognition and leadership (Al-Jenaibi, 2011; Kemp, Madsen and El-Saidi, 2013).…”

Bridge between Public Relations Education and Culture: The Perspectives of Bahraini Female PR Training Practitioners

“…Several scholars used a qualitative methodology to study the perspectives of women in different cultures, such as the USA (Wrigley, 2005); Russia (Fitch & Third, 2010;Tsetsura, 2011); Bahrain (AlSaqer, 2008) & UAE (Al-Jenaibi, 2011). However, all these studies focused on the perspectives of the experienced women in the field.…”

Bridge between Public Relations Education and Culture: The Perspectives of Bahraini Female PR Training Practitioners

“…Several scholars used a qualitative methodology to study the perspectives of women in different cultures, such as the USA (Wrigley, 2005); Russia (Fitch & Third, 2010;Tsetsura, 2011); Bahrain (AlSaqer, 2008) & UAE (Al-Jenaibi, 2011). However, all these studies focused on the perspectives of the experienced women in the field.…”

“…However, most of gender studies in public relations were limited to the Western context and to Western organizational culture. Although women in the Arab countries have started to enter the public life, only few studies related the working Arab women in public relations to cultural context (such as AlSaqer, 2008;Al-Jenaibi, 2011). Therefore, in this study, women were treated as individuals whose 'perceptions, meanings and experiences are appropriate and important data for analysis' (Foss & Foss, 1988, p. 9).…”