Every book and every journal that I have read till now (in order to research women in PR industry), points to the fact that in spite of women being in majority( about 70%) in the profession it is the men who have all the top spots.
It is a sweeping generalization of course. There are a few PR agencies which are headed by women. There are other few which are owned by women but the issue here is of percentage.
I have already discussed (in my earlier blog entries) the reasons (family, children and Cinderella complex etc.) of why women cannot reach the top.
But the road ahead may not be as dark as it seems. The future holds a great potential. I am a believer of karma. Thus I think if given adequate professional education, women will be on the top in a decade or so. Why do I sort of predict a decade? It is because I feel for the concept of women bosses being accepted, will need time to seep into the minds of women and men in particular.
I base this premise, as Moore ( 1986) noted, that many of the older men who make the choices of giving a raise to women still do not feel comfortable with women. These men, however, do not consider themselves to be discriminating against women overtly; they are simply following their customary way of choosing people.
I presume men with such thoughts are on their way out of the industry ( owing to age), paving way for younger and more receptive men who know in the college their women colleagues got better grades then them!!!!!
I came across this very interesting quote: Ryan (quoted in Lukovitz, 1989) argued: "Contending that women aspire to be a technician is horrendously akin to blaming the victim. All the women I know perceive themselves as far transcending the roles they are obliged to occupy". For her, women's lower status in public relations is not of their own doing. Instead, women's subjugation is a result of the "corporate, male-dominated world that continues not to pay or promote women as it does men".
The beginning has been made with a few women on the top, now it is just a matter of time when the others will follow.
Hey a very good post by you. I agree with most of the points to it. To add few points, I am adding a list of few females who are at top position; Indra Nooyi (Pepsico), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw(Biocon,India), Chanda Kochar(CEO,ICICI Bank frm May'09), Rupa Kapur(CRISIL, India), Naina Kidwai Lal(CEO,HSBC India) and the list goes on.
ReplyDeleteMoving from corporate world to the ground reality in India. The number of beauty parlours run by women are ever increasing. Number of women entrepreneurs are increasing as an additional support to their family. The famous case of Lijat Papad where women came together, became the owner and started managing themselves so as the provide employment opportunities to unemployed female. Moreover, one of the contestants for Nobel Prize for 2008 is “Female” who kept her income in piggy bank rather than putting into equities, insurance etc.(One of our professor said this, I haven’t read about it).
One point on “old men giving a raise to women”, we need to remember the incident of Sudha Murty(wife of ex-Chairman, Narayan Murthy, Infosys,India) with J.R.D.Tata wherein she wrote a letter to later asking her the reason not the recruit females for the job at Tata Chemicals and then Mr.Tata realizing the mistake not only recruited her but also dropped her to the nearby bus stand if she was late.
And with this just before concluding I think the era has started wherein especially young male employees have realized that lady boss is not an imaginary but a realistic