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GWPR Report Highlights Boardroom Barriers but Flexible Working May Accelerate Change

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Angela Oakes, GWPR Co-founder & Joint President

By Angela Oakes, Co-founder & Joint President, Global Women in PR

The Annual Index is a GWPR (Global Women in PR) report measuring the position of women in PR around the world. This research-based report* is part of a five-year plan to help us understand the issues affecting women in the industry and to measure the progress towards gender equality.

We recently launched the third edition of the GWPR Annual Index and what has become increasingly clear from our annual research is that progress towards equality continues to be extremely slow. In addition, as a direct result of the Covid pandemic, the pace for driving women forward into a more balanced PR industry appears to have taken a step backwards.

When asked about the effect of the pandemic, some of the negative feedback included slower progression for women reaching leadership positions, less job security, increased stress from working 24/7 and the belief that it will take even longer to close the gender pay gap.

Without question these are serious career issues for PR women, but the effect goes beyond women.

In an industry where women make up two-thirds of the workforce, the boardroom is still predominantly male. We know from leading management consultancies, like McKinsey & Co; (Women in the Workplace 2020) that there is a direct link between boardroom diversity and a company’s financial performance. Our Annual Index research highlights the benefits to business of having women in the boardroom in terms of productivity, creativity and improved working practices.

Business Benefits

Overall, a significant 89% of respondents believe that more needs to be done to ensure women in the PR industry have greater boardroom presence.

So what should be done and what are the barriers to women entering the boardroom? Not surprisingly the biggest barrier continues to be women taking on childcare or caring responsibilities. Half of our survey respondents had children at home and two-fifths of women reported caring responsibilities had negatively impacted their career.

First and foremost organisations need to offer flexible working practices, so that women with children can schedule their work and home commitments accordingly. On a positive note this is happening much more frequently – and all thanks to Covid. 91% of respondents reported that they are currently working flexibly.

In addition remote working is on the rise – up 20% in a year. Over the next year PR professionals believe they will be working remotely 3 days a week and 21% expect to be doing this full time. Remote working is such an important benefit that more than half rank it more highly than financial reward.

In conclusion, the acceleration of flexible, and in particular remote working, may counter some of the obstacles created by the Covid pandemic, but there is still a long way to go before PR women achieve gender equality in the workplace.

It will be fascinating to see if the long-term impact of Covid will have positively helped women in the PR workplace of the future.

* The 2021 research was conducted Summer 2021 by strategic insight agency Opinium using an online questionnaire. This year 430 PR professionals from around the world participated; over half (61%) were at director level and the vast majority (97%) were women.

 

About GWPR

Founded to connect, champion and support women in senior PR and Communication roles around the world, GWPR is a not-for-profit organisation driven by a desire to change the landscape for women working in our industry.

www.globalwpr.com

Global Women in PR Gender Pay Gap Survey

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Thursday September 29th 2016 – Leading international networking group GWPR (Global Women in PR) revealed today at the ICCO Global Summit, the results from their very first gender pay gap survey of men and women working in the Global PR industry. Data collected from 12 countries worldwide revealed a staggering £12,600 pay gap between the salaries of men and women.

The survey also provided an important insight into work/life balance and working practices, that might provide a clue as to why more women are not better represented at the top of a profession where they make up the majority of the workforce.

The survey, conducted by leading research company OnePoll on behalf of GWPR, revealed an average global PR salary of £57,200, with men earning on average 19% more at £67,600 compared to women at £55,000. Whilst salaries are very similar at a junior level in PR; when it comes to more senior roles it is a very different picture. For example, a male in-house Board PR Director earns an average salary of £110,000, compared to his female equivalent on £97,000 – a £13,000 pay gap.

The survey also showed that more than a third of men (36%) working in PR agencies are at board director level, compared to only 16% of women who have broken through the glass ceiling.

When considering asking for a promotion or pay rise, 21% of men were very confident in doing so, unlike women (10%). Further gender differences surrounded balancing childcare and work commitments. This was described as more challenging by women (78%) than men (58%). The sharing of domestic chores was fairly evenly split with 47% claiming to divide the chores, although 41% of the women surveyed believed they did more than half.

In today’s connected world one of the most surprising facts to emerge was the lack of opportunity to work from home. 70% were not allowed to work from home on a weekly basis, with 15% never allowed to do this. The average working week for a PR is 45 hours and an encouraging two-thirds believe they have a good work-life balance.

Commenting on the survey findings GWPR Co-Founders Angela Oakes and Susan Hardwick said: “The findings revealed a much higher pay gap than perhaps anticipated and considering the world in which we now operate, with 24hour access to technology, it is hard to see why there cannot be more flexibility in the workplace.

“Flexibility is very important, but so too is looking at the skill sets that women need to help them reach the top. Business training and tackling confidence issues are two key areas worthy of attention. Retaining talented women so that the boardroom has a better gender balance makes sound business sense. As many studies have shown – a balanced boardroom improves business performance.

“Current working practices have not led to any significant changes in the gender pay gap over the past decade and Deloitte’s report revealed last week that if things continue on the current path ‘Women will not be earning the same as men until 2069!’ We don’t think we can wait that long…..we need to act now to make the necessary changes.”

Francis Ingham, Director General of the PRCA and CEO of ICCO announced an important initiative last month that includes gender pay gap reporting in its kitemark accreditation for UK consultancies for the first time – this should be a global initiative.

About ICCO
The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations in 48 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australia. Collectively, these associations represent some 2,500 PR firms.
www.iccopr.com