Why you should ask for a pay rise now if you are a woman. How to avoid the gender pay gap in PR

As we approach the end of the noughties, one would hope that at last, women’s salaries are comparable with men’s. But the 2008 TUC report,Closing The Gender Pay Gap,  says that adult women in all age groups earn less than men of the same age. The good news is that the pay gap is narrowing, but the report claims that the full-time pay gap is still at 17.2% and the part-time pay gap is a considerable 35.6%. The report also highlights how UK women experience a larger pay gap than many other women in Europe, with the UK differential being a third higher than the EU average.

However, one might imagine that in a career in which women thrive, such as PR, the picture would be less unfair. According to CIPR statistics, the PR industry is dominated by women, with over two thirds of the industry’s workforce now female, in comparison to 46% of the UK workforce as a whole. Unfortunately, it seems that the PR profession may have little reason to crow about how well-paid its women are. According to research conducted by employment research company Incomes Data Services (IDS) across many professions, including PR, fewer women are earning senior salaries. Ray Storry, manager of pay benchmarking at IDS, says: “Women are at a disadvantage to men when it comes to progression, which means they are less likely to be promoted to the most senior roles. When they are promoted they are more likely to start on lower salaries, compared to their male counterparts.”

Behind the figures
Richard Bailey, a PR educator who blogs at www.prstudies.com, says that on the face of it, the statistics are shocking. He explains: “Data from, for example, the 2005 Centre for Economics and Business Research study of UK public relations for the CIPR, shows that women earn less than men – even in such a feminised area as PR”. Bailey speculates that there are three possible causes for the discrepancy: “First, institutionalised sexism at work. While this may have been true in the past, it's now illegal because of equal opportunities legislation and seems unlikely given that the majority of those working in PR (including many managers) are female.

“Second, biology. People's most productive years in career terms tend to be in the 30s – which is for many women the decade when they are raising families. Legislation can help to some extent, but biology determines that women have most input into pregnancy and childbirth.

“Third, women choose to work in sectors that are lower paid (such as consumer PR roles), while men often choose better paid specialisms (for example, corporate and financial, public affairs, and technology).”

Bailey believes that the last theory is probably the most compelling explanation of the salary discrepancy, although he adds, “even here there are exceptions (healthcare is well-paid and female-friendly).”

Benefits, not bucks
The fact that PR has so many sectors, and allows women to work in many flexible ways, benefits women in that they can adapt work to suit their family life, even if it doesn’t necessarily offer the advantage of high earnings. Ann Mealor, acting director general at the CIPR describes how many young women begin their careers either in-house or working for consultancies and then often branch out and become freelancers, or start their own business. She adds: “In the PR industry, practitioners can become successful at a very young age. As is the case with the rest of the UK workforce, many women often take career breaks to either start families or explore other avenues, and this leaves a gap in the workforce which is often filled by their male counterparts.  This can explain why despite the industry being dominated by women, especially at entry level, that men still currently hold the majority of the top-level positions.”

It could be argued that ambition and hard work is always rewarded, it is just a matter of having the determination to succeed. Although Gillian Waddell, CIPR women in PR president, appreciates that women earn less because of the years they take out to raise families, and because of tending to favour working in less well-paid sectors, she has seldom found instances of an employer favouring men over women and believes that firms pay people because of their abilities and value. She adds: “I am sorry and surprised if people feel women are underpaid, but perhaps they should ask why? Certainly I have always found the women I've worked with and alongside to be more than capable of demanding their fair share of the salary allocations. In fact most of the women I know would regard men as the weaker sex!”

Not everyone agrees that women are as good at asking for money as they should be. Julia Ruane, head of PR at digital agency DigForFireDMG, says that women like to make sure all parties are happy with a situation, and so will be more flexible than is absolutely necessary. She feels that it is important for women to appreciate their worth, and adds, “unless you are focused on what you want, are willing to go after it, and not willing to let others take what you want, then women will earn less and hold fewer positions of power.”