Feminization Theory

Feminization theory is a body of research-based analysis and philosophy that has developed in response to two broad concerns. One is the impact on the field of public relations that occurs when the number of practitioners who are female is larger than the number who are male. Disciplines such as nursing and teaching changed in status, for instance, when they became more female than male demographically. The second theme is motivated by a desire for a positive and constructive role for women in public relations. What has consistently emerged from this analysis is the argument that the field is healthier because of this feminist bias. In [Page 324]essence, a feminist perspective increases the quality of public relations research and practice and positions public relations to better serve society.

Linda Aldoory wrote that “the impact of gender and diversity on public relations has become wide-spread, and today it affects practitioners, scholars and audiences” (2003, p. 222). In her analysis, Aldoory referenced The Velvet Ghetto, the first comprehensive gender study in public relations, published in 1986 by C. G. Cline et al. Aldoory noted that since that study, various scholars have undertaken additional studies to describe the status of women in the profession. They applied feminist perspectives to clarify and improve prevailing public relations theories as they also explored new feminized concepts and theories. One of the leaders in this effort was Elizabeth Toth, who with others developed a body of scholarship that led to a new feminist paradigm that empowered women.

Women account for almost two-thirds of all public relations specialists in the United States, according to the 1998 U.S. Department of Commerce report (Grunig, Toth, & Hon, 2000, p. 50). Nevertheless, men continue to dominate the field because they hold the more senior positions, which are traditionally associated with power, prestige, and responsibility. L. F. Rakow stated, “The feminization of public relations should now be recognizable as nothing less than a gender crisis for the whole field, triggered by the entrance of substantial numbers of women, but fed by a long-standing conflict over [masculine and feminine] ideologies” (1989, p. 295).

Many responses to this “crisis” have been and will be voiced. One of the most constructive and illustrative of the feminist perspectives is voiced by Larissa A. Grunig et al., who wrote,

Examples of such feminist values include “altruism, commitment, equality, equity, ethics, fairness, forgiveness, integrity, justice, loyalty, morality, nurturance, perfection, quality of life, standards, tolerance and cherishing children” (L. A. Grunig et al., 2000, p. 58).

...