The Experiences of Women in a Public Relations Firm: A Phenomenological Explication

Abstract

This paper uses the phenomenological method to explicate the experiences of women in a public relations firm. Seven women from a major midwestern public relations firm were interviewed to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of being a woman in public relations during the feminization of the profession. From the interviews, four initial clusters emerged: perceptions of public relations work prior to entering the field, realities of the nature of the work, language as a shaper of reality, and conflicting roles. These clusters were further reduced to create two thematic clusters: the struggle with the changing role of women in society and the experience of being a woman in public relations. It was found that the essence of the experience of being a woman in public relations is in the negotiation and reconciliation of the ascribed roles and achieved roles. Women enter the workplace being, first, a woman, and, second, a daughter. In these roles, expectations and accepted behaviors are already formed, however, the added dimension of the work environment creates another role leading to internal conflict when defining the experience of being a woman in public relations. Although the roles appear to be unique and mutually exclusive, they are tightly woven together to create the essence of the experience of being a woman in public relations.

Business Discourse

“…• Phenomenology: focuses on understanding experience from the first-person point of view and offers a range of descriptive and interpretative options that can be viewed as both theoretical and methodological. The 1997 JBC study by Krider and Ross uses a phenomenological approach to give an account of the experiences of women working in a US public relations firm (Krider & Ross, 1997). • Critical hermeneutics: has an emphasis on understanding how interactants come to develop a common language, and is known for its transformative ethos, similar to that of action research (Lopez & Willis, 2004).…”

Disciplinary Practice(s) in Business Communication, 1985 to 2004

“…• phenomenology by authors from an interpersonal communication and public communication program (Krider & Ross, 1997);…”

Women in public relations: The influence of gender on women leaders in public relations

“…Their study also found that some men believe that they are better suited for the job and prepared to succeed based on their biological makeup (Aldoory & Toth, 2002). Some women noted sexism in the work environment, explaining that it occurred directly through specific comments regarding females and indirectly by the general behavior of men (Krider & Ross, 1997). According to Toth and Aldoory (2002), women reported that some men viewed their work as less than their own and that some men had attitudes that the work women did could not compare to the work men did.…”

“…Studies have reported a salary difference between men and women within the public relations industry over the past three decades (Krider & Ross, 1997;Toth, Serini, Wright, & Emig, 1998;Aldoory & Toth, 2002;Dozier, Sha, & Shen, 2013). In 2002, Toth and Aldoory found that the average man's salary was about $17,000 higher than the average woman's salary.…”

“…Women also reported a glass ceiling within the field, noting that women were usually stopped on their way to the top and were hardly seen in top positions (Krider & Ross, 1997). In a study conducted by Aldoory and Toth (2002), they found that women generally saw a difference in hiring and promotions compared to their male counterparts, and that they were paid less than their male colleagues even after accounting for age, education level, and experience level.…”