The UK-based Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has released the PR and Communications Census 2018, produced in collaboration with PRWeek and global market research agency Norstat. The results reveal a rise in gender pay gap of over 3% since the last report in 2016.

Francis Ingham MPRCA, general director of the PRCA, says, “The gender pay gap remains a sore subject for the industry and there is clearly a lot more we can do to improve these figures. It is disappointing that we are having this conversation in a female dominated industry, which is why we need to showcase the important work that Women in PR is doing to tackle the issue.”

“We look forward to working with Women in PR on this vital issue and working with our members to ensure that there are more women in leadership positions and to ensure that more employers are implementing flexible working practices,” Ingham explains.

Even though the PR and communications sector is dominated by females, with 66% of the sector’s body identifying as women, it has a suffered a rise of 3.2% in gender pay gap since 2016. By reaching 21%, the PR and communications industry is 2.6% higher than the UK gender pay gap for all types of workplace. In numbers, this means that women earn an average of £42,588 a year, whereas men earn on average of £53,952.

Bibi Hilton CMPRCA, president of Women in PR and managing director of Golin London, says, “It’s inexcusable that an industry which is majority female (a majority which is growing) and likes to position itself as innovative and progressive, should have a 21% gender pay gap. However, the fact that this year’s PRCA census shows a 7% increase in female managing directors does seem to indicate some progress in getting more women into leadership roles in the industry – something which is vital if we are to close this pay gap.”

Agencies seem to suffer the most with the gender pay gap being 23.5%, 2.5% higher than the industry average. On the other hand, the gender pay gap across in-house teams is 15.4%, 5.6% lower than the industry average.

Not all is bad however, as the census has also revealed an increase of 7% in female managing directors since 2016.

Explaining the census findings, Hilton offers an optimistic perspective. “The fact that the gap has increased by 3.2% since the last census in 2016 may also indicate employers are starting to take action as they hire more junior female employees to address the balance – something which initially will cause the gap to worsen while these women progress to leadership roles.“

“However, there is more we can and must do to close the gap and ensure that these junior women remain in our industry, are rewarded effectively, and achieve leadership. in gender pay gap,” Hilton says.

In 2018, when women’s rights is a topic that is constantly in the centre of discussions, it is discouraging to see slow progress being made in focal issues, such as the gender pay gap. However, there is cause for optimism. Change is a process that requires time and persistence, so what might seem like a dead end now, may in fact be the beginning for society’s transformation.

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