Women’s talents may make them better suited to PR than men, but which sex makes the best PROs?

There are around 30,000 genes in human beings and just 78 of these separate men from women. These few disparities in the sexes, and not just the obvious ones, appear to make a lot of difference. When it comes to the workplace, men and women often choose diverse types of work, and when they do the same job, may approach tasks in a divergent ways. In PR, there are a wide variety of roles, but all demand great communication and people skills as well as requiring common sense and intelligence – so who is best suited for a typical PR position, a man or a woman?

Unravelling the differences in the way that men and women operate is an ambitious project, but one that many authors have been happy to attempt. Of the numerous books describing the contrasting ways that men and women communicate, probably the most notorious is Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray, which theorises that men and women are so different, it is as if they come from separate planets. In her book, You Just Don‘t Understand, Deborah Tannen describes how men compete more with each other and see discussions as contests, while women approach conversations as negotiations for closeness. She posits that men are more concerned with achieving status and avoiding failure.

When it comes to sexual differences that relate specifically to PR, around twice as many experts contacted for this article talked in favour of female qualities as being particularly suited for the industry (even though as many men as women were contacted). However, whenever there is a discussion about the abilities of the sexes, it could be argued that it is seen as more socially acceptable to say that women are naturally more talented, perhaps because they are generally perceived as being the underdogs in the workplace, with proof of this being that they tend to earn less than men.

Here, leading PR practitioners discuss their views about the differences that separate (and bring together) men and women in PR:

Graham Goodkind, chairman and founder of Frank PR
I've always felt that typical female traits were better suited to consumer PR (than typical male traits). Heightened instincts, a more natural gut feel and better levels of emotional understanding and connection are qualities that I think are really important in consumer PR. These arguably more hard-wired skills aren't just the domain of women though. Many men I've come across in consumer PR are very 'in touch' with their female side and these traits come to the fore in their work life at least."

Julia Ruane, head of PR at digital agency DigForFireDMGAlthough this is a very broad catch-all opinion, I would say that men are better at getting to the nitty-gritty of a situation. They are good at summarising the key issues and taking action. Their writing tends to be much more to the point and logical in approach. Women tend to be much more subtle – in all aspects, from the nuances in their writing styles to their relationships with clients and spotting different angles for a story. Of course, there are many examples of excellent PRs that don’t fit this broad brush opinion, but overall, this has been my experience.

“I’ve been working in PR now for nearly 12 years, and in that time have worked with male and female directors and direct reports. There is no doubt that the styles are different in the main. Working together produces a good complement of skills though. A PR team that has a mix of both the subtle and the direct can produce excellent results. And reduces the level of cattiness you can get in an all-female team, which you never seem to get in an all-male team…”

Clare Summers, senior account manager, Spa Public Relations
“I don’t think that it necessarily depends on what sex you are – I’ve worked with some very excellent male PRs. However, generally speaking I think the skill set required to have a successful career in PR is perhaps more prevalent in women. Multi-tasking, empathy and relationship-building are skills which many women find second nature. Perhaps it is the nature of the job – talking (a lot!) and juggling many different projects at one time – are the kind of tasks that appeal more to women than men.”