Guys! Want to meet a girl? Go into PR.

Businesswoman and businessman sitting at desk using laptop, smilingAre you in PR? Yes? Ok, go ahead. Take a look around your office right now. What’s the ratio of men to women?

Looking around my college classrooms as a public relations major and around my office, I was and still am surrounded by women. The percentage of women in public relations varies from 60 percent to 70 percent depending on categories and the specific type of PR they work in. In essence: Girls, we dominate this profession numbers-wise!

Why is it so often we find women working in PR?

Is it because we are often times considered more left-brained? The “verbal, sorting, detail-oriented side of the brain is the left, whereas the spatial intuitive nonverbal side is the right.” Women statistically are more verbal, speaking twice as many words as men, which can help with pitching, right (or giving you that headache about how you didn’t go to the drycleaners after work)?

Is it because we can multitask for the best of them? I will never speak to this point because I fail at this female stereotype. It’s walking or talking people . . . not both at the same time!

Is it because we are crazy, obsessive compulsive organizers? In the agency world, one needs to keep track of the producer at XYZ radio station, while knowing they need to send that release to Dave instead of John now, and there is a client meeting at 3:00 p.m. and a presentation still needs to be made, and so much more. Again, an over-generalized stereotype, but I had to touch on it.

Really, this post is meant for fun. No one sex is better than the other and each of the points I make above can be argued and seen in a case-by-case basis. Guys, you rock too. But the numbers speak for themselves as far as women owning the majority in PR.

What do you think? Is your office dominated by women? Do you agree that sometimes women can carry some PR tasks better than their male counterparts? Do you think the women in your office are totally right-brained or unorganized people? Let me know! And play nice in the comments section.

Why do I feel a rebuttal Cog post coming my way . . . ?

[Cog Note: (11/11/09): Ok, yes, she got me.  Response here]

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