Has the glass ceiling really been broken? Elektronische Ressource : the impacts of the feminization of the public relations industry in Indonesia / Deborah N. Simorangkir

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• Publié par: technische_universitat_ilmenau
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 22
• Langue: English

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Public relations is often regarded as a female field. The public is allured by the young celebrity publicists who have become celebrities themselves, and listen to the explanations of the spokeswomen assigned to manage crises after the latest industrial “mishaps.” Across the public relations industry, women are no longer limited to the lower level technical jobs. In Indonesia, over the past decade, women have entered public relations in the conventionally male dominated fields of finance, politics, and government, and even heavy industry. Young women are racing into higher education courses in public relations, and women predominate in its teaching. Many women are setting up their own agencies and are even winning the top jobs in major public relations companies. In Indonesia, public relations is a developing field where it seems that gender equity has become a reality. But has it really? This research aims to analyze the impact of the feminization of public relations, and whether this is benefiting women practitioners and the overall industry in Indonesia. This research draws upon gender in public relations and feminist labor market literature, as well as personal experiences of female public relations practitioners. Findings of a major United States study on women in public relations show that the glass ceiling and inequity in remuneration seem to be a custom in public relations, as they are in other professions. The study, partially sponsored by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and conducted by American public relations scholars Larissa Grunig, Elizabeth Toth, and Linda Hon (2001), investigated and analyzed gender 1 based discrimination and explored strategies to overcome it. They began by noting that even though it is clear that discrimination exists, men and women continuously ignore it. The number of female practitioners in the public relations industry has led to the notion that women are not experiencing gender discrimination in Indonesia. Nevertheless, the feminization of this industry has to be understood and monitored because it seems to be camouflaging the continuous reality of gender inequity. Moreover, research findings from other professions and industries have shown that over time, feminization leads to a decline in status and remuneration. Furthermore, if feminization were perceived to have a negative impact on the profession, especially in running down status and remuneration, men would not enter or stay in the job. For instance, men vacated secretarial work early in the twentieth century and status and remuneration remains low until today. On the other hand, as status, remuneration, and promotion paths have improved, men have entered nursing. As noted above, the appearance of more women in senior management in public relations has attracted negative attention. According to the United States 1996 census, more than a third of managers in marketing, advertising, and public relations are women, even though men are still the majority in the senior positions (Grunig et al., 2001). There is a notion that women are dragging down the profession, and this indicates gender ideologies both within and outside the industry. Although certainly not the only one, the Grunig et al., study, Women in Public Relations: How Gender Influences Practice (2001), is considered by many, one of the most significant and comprehensive research projects on gender in public relations. Their findings provide a comparative starting point for Indonesian investigations, while 2 still recognizing that the U.S. industry is of a much greater magnitude and has a much longer history. Some of the conditions that apply to professional public relations in United States organizations may not apply to organizations in other countries, including Indonesia. Public relations professionals may practice different models of public relations elsewhere in the world (Grunig, Grunig, Sriramesh, Huang, & Lyra, 1995). Van Leuven and Pratt (1996) also agreed that the way public relations is practiced in developed countries such as the United States or in Europe is very different from the way public relations is practiced in the developing countries such as Indonesia, “For one thing, public relations in economically advanced nations is largely the study and practice of how organizations in the private sector relate to strategic publics in their environments. In contrast, public relations in developing countries equates to government nation- building programs or countrywide public communication campaigns” (van Leuven & Pratt, 1996, p. 93). In transitional economies, there is a greater need for what public relations does best: build relationships. And public relations also has a role to play in the actual economic and political transition. Lawniczak notes that “for the first time in the history of public relations, its strategies and instruments can be applied to assist in the peaceful transition from one political-economic system to another” (2003, p. 225). Nation building is a lofty goal for the profession. Yet, in many transitional economies, public relations is merely one of many organizational functions struggling for organizational resources. Indeed, public relations is often considered to be the same as marketing. Thus, public relations is often under the marketing department, and therefore the budget allocated for its programs is also a fraction of the marketing budget. 3 Organizations that operate in global contexts have to balance the diverse goals of public relations and marketing. And, in many nations, especially those where public relations is undeveloped as a professional communication function, the public relations function may suffer from “encroachment” (Lauzen, 1991). Encroachment describes how organizations with strong marketing departments sometimes allow individuals not skilled in public relations, such as people from marketing departments, to “manage the less powerful department” (p. 247) of public relations. Lauzen (1993) found that when the public relations and marketing teams share the same goals, then the marketing staff becomes more involved in public relations activities. Through interviews with young practitioners, Grunig, Toth, and Hon (2001) concluded that women are attracted to public relations because the obstacles are not too difficult and they can achieve professional status. Remuneration is better than in many other careers chosen by women, especially at entry-level positions. Women appreciate flexibility in work arrangements and feel that promotion prospects look promising, especially with the increasing number of high profile women leaders in the public relations industry. Public relations is also attractive because traditionally feminine skills in communications—empathy, networking, and multi-tasking—are encouraged and appreciated. However, women’s competence in these areas is also taken for granted and exploited. Women are expected to perform the “emotional labor” of listening, counseling, serving, dealing with difficult people, and even cleaning up literal and figurative messes (Probert, 1997). Public relations work at the higher level is, however, often still a male domain. Grunig et al. (2001), point out that one of the concerns with feminization is that the status 4 of senior public relations roles is diminishing as more women enter these positions, and this may be a reason why in times of economic downturn and crisis, companies are cutting back the public relations people. There is an assumption that public relations is too “soft,” and the regarded as more “hard hitting” professions of accountants and lawyers are leading the communications briefings (Grunig et al., 2001). Grunig, Toth, and Hon (2001) confirmed the assumption that young women are considered attractive by employers because they are often a cheaper, more flexible, and less ambitious option, compared to confident and ambitious young men. Many young women are employed in technical positions rather than those with recognized paths to management. German professor Romy Fröhlich has also conducted extensive research and produced writings on women in the journalism and public relations industries. Fröhlich (2004, p. 67) calls the socialization of women into feminine role expectations a "friendliness trap," in which the women’s demonstration of caring and intuitive communication skills opens doors to entry-level jobs (and may get them more substantive interviews with sources), but these attributes become disadvantageous when these women seek promotion because these same skills are associated with lack of assertiveness and weak leadership. Female journalists, for instance, are expected to meet both the social definition of femininity and at the same time, meet the criteria for professionalism, which are often at odds (van Zoonen, 1994, 1998; Fröhlich, 2004). On one hand, they learn that "feminine" values such as compassion and kindness "are at odds with qualities expected of journalists such as a certain amount of directness, distrust, and toughness" (van Zoonen, 1994, p. 54). Everbach (2005), for instance, interviewed a woman photographer who said 5 colleagues and management frowned on crying but accepted angry outbursts by male colleagues. Thus, women in journalism management positions often adopt a "thick skin" in order to climb through the ranks (Chambers et al., 2004). Chambers et al. (2004) argue that one strategy of women in newsrooms is that of incorporation—working to be perceived as "one of the boys" and adopting masculine values and practices. Nevertheless, men interviewed in public relations research studies have denied that the problem is real, even after being presented with detailed and well-researched information regarding s