Genderlect Theory: Applications to Public Relations

Sample

Defined as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” (Elliott, 2012), the public relations process revolves predominantly around the practitioners’ communication skills that enable the development and maintaining of relationships with outside stakeholder groups, such as consumers, journalists, and government officials, as well as internal groups, such as employees, shareholders, and executives. The public relations industry is dominated by women, yet most of the leadership positions are held by male professionals (Mundy, 2016; Sha, 2013; Vardeman-Winter & Place, 2017). In addition, women have remained significantly underpaid compared to their male colleagues (Dozier, Sha, & Shen, 2013; Hazleton & Sha, 2012; Sha, 2013). While a multitude of factors may inform these imbalances, the Genderlect Theory can provide a paramount explanation: women and men communicate differently. Women communicate to build relationships, which could explain why an industry like public relations, which revolves around relationship management, is dominated by female professionals (Maiorescu, 2016). Men communicate to gain or maintain status, which makes their speech more assertive, a possible explanation for salary and promotion negotiation (Leibbrandt & List, 2014).