Glass ceiling and public relations: The problematic in the disciplinary field in Argentina

Abstract

The following research is carried out at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the National University of Lomas de Zamora (Argentina) and is part of a broader project on "Transdisciplinary approaches in the Social Sciences in addressing gender issues", where eight (8) research teams worked articulately on lines that link different gender issues addressed from different disciplines of the Social Sciences. A transdisciplinary methodology was adopted to articulate and rethink from different points of view that provide diverse perspectives on the problems associated with gender issues, which do not admit simple or linear explanations.

The beginning of this project is marked by a social and political context in the region that challenges society, and therefore the professional field of any discipline, and promotes analysis of the situation of women in the profession.

Since there is no specific data about public relations in Argentina, it is hoped that the results of this research can provide information to understand the situation of women in this field in relation to the glass ceiling.

The situation was analyzed from the concepts of the glass ceiling, understood as those invisible barriers that women face when they try to ascend in the hierarchical levels of the organization and strongly associated with these impediments in the growth of women, the concepts of : “Sticky Floor” -which explains how women, having to take care of their families; they put aside their continuous training outside of their working hours, they have more difficulties to attend events outside of work, etc. (Upegui Valencia and Cervera Delgado, 2009)- and "male brotherhoods" (Segato, 2010) -or those informal but exclusively masculine spaces that enable the formal promotion of men in organizations-.

A qualitative and quantitative methodology has been used, in which more than 250 self-administered surveys (non-probabilistic randomized) and 17 in-depth interviews with leading PR professionals in Argentina have been analyzed, with the aim of investigating the perceptions of professionals about the phenomenon of the "glass ceiling" in the field of PR in Argentina, its origins, possible explanations, and their experiences in this regard, providing a holistic view of this problem. 

Given the lack of data on the specific topic of glass ceiling and Public Relations in Argentina, it is expected that the results of this research can provide information to understand what the situation of women in this field is and generate contributions that aim to reduce asymmetries.

The final results confirm that there are phenomena in the profession that are recurrent in different regions of the world (for example, the feminization of the profession, the glass ceiling, stereotypes associated with gender, the existence of masculine brotherhoods) and yet in the study, other phenomena appear that contradict some theories and that allow to think of alternative ways to address this social problem.

From the role in university teaching, the proposal is the co-construction and co-creation of educational and discursive strategies (Herrera Echenique and Bendezú, 2020) where it is essential to adopt listening as a pedagogical position: conditions must be generated for a new type of society, more inclusive, fair, and egalitarian.