Feminization Theory

The “Velvet Ghetto” and the “Feminine Fallacy”

The term Velvet Ghetto originated in a Business Week article in 1978, “PR: ‘The velvet ghetto’ of affirmative action.” The article accurately predicted that in 20 years, more than half of the public relations workforce would be women because these positions were available, nonthreatening, and noncompetitive for managerial positions. In response, the IABC Foundation commissioned a series of Velvet Ghetto investigations to determine the effects of the increasing number of women in the field. As lead investigator, Elizabeth L. Toth summarized the findings of the research in 1988: Women are more likely to see themselves as technicians than managers; women receive lower salaries than men; and all professions that shift from male to female dominance undergo a decrease in status and salary. This problem is known as the “feminine fallacy.” Public relations appears to be an open field to women, but women consistently experience gender-based discrimination in myriad ways.

Glass Ceiling Studies

Throughout the 1990s, the PRSA Foundation commissioned a team of researchers to explore practitioner salaries as well as their perceptions of job satisfaction, sexual harassment, and roles. Through a series of “Glass Ceiling” studies spanning nearly a decade, researchers concluded that women practitioners experience a glass ceiling in public relations. Women try to “do it all” by performing managerial activities and technical tasks for lower pay than men.

Liberal and Radical Feminist Strategies

In 2001, Larissa A. Grunig, Toth, and Linda Childers Hon compiled a comprehensive literature review on this issue in Women in Public Relations: How Gender Influences Practice. The essence of this review led to liberal feminist strategies that women should employ to change themselves— including learning to negotiate more, monitoring their behavior, seeking out mentors, returning to school for advanced degrees, getting accredited, and attending after-hours functions to “get ahead.”

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