Socially Mobile ‘Missing Women’ research project receives CIPR funding
A Socially Mobile research project supported by the CIPR will explore why public relations practice sees a significant drop-off in female representation at senior levels.
Socially Mobile has been awarded a research grant by the CIPR to investigate the barriers that prevent female public relations practitioners from progressing or lead to them leaving the industry mid-career. The ‘Missing Women’ project aims to identify barriers and provide potential interventions.
This mid-career talent loss issue has been consistently identified by CIPR State of the Profession and PRCA Census data. The issue has also been well-established in academic literature for more than 30 years.
The PR Population Report, based on data from the 2021 Census, reported that 66% of practitioners working in England and Wales below director are female and 34% are male. The situation is reversed in senior roles, where 54% of practitioners are male and 46% are female.
The shortfall equates to almost 3,000 missing women in senior roles within public relations practice in England and Wales.
The issue is also reflected in the gender pay gap.
The CIPR State of the Profession report in 2020 reported a gender pay gap of £3,658. The PRCA Census in 2021 reported a gap of £7,000. The CIPR study uses regression analysis and considers other factors impacting the pay gap, including age, gender and seniority, while the PRCA looks only at the financial data.
“The shortfall in representation in the public relations industry is increasingly well understood, but meaningful change is slow. We’re keen to explore practical inventions that would help accelerate equality,” said Stephen Waddington, co-founder and director, Socially Mobile.
“We would like to thank the CIPR for funding this important research. It will enable us to explore critical interventions and fund three Socially Mobile graduates to support the research itself,” said Sarah Waddington CBE, co-founder and director, Socially Mobile.
The Socially Mobile ‘Missing Women’ study will consist of a literature review and in-depth qualitative interviews with two cohorts of ten mid-career women working in public relations practice or who have left the industry.
The CIPR research award will enable Socially Mobile to recruit three practitioners from the Socially Mobile Graduate community with lived experience of the mid-career progression issue to support the project. This will support their personal development.
Stephen Waddington will lead the project and will be supported by Sarah Waddington CBE. It will be supervised by Ben Verinder, author of the CIPR PR Population Report.
The CIPR Research Fund supports research by members into areas of public relations practice. Stephen Waddington served as President of the CIPR in 2014 and is an Honorary Fellow. Sarah Waddington served as President in 2018 and is a Fellow.
