Enemy at the (House) gates: Permanence of gender discrimination in public relations career promotion in Latin America

Abstract

This study develops models capable of finding empirical relations between social factors in practitioners’ private lives, that is to say, extra-organizational or external factors to the work environment that affect the career promotion of female professionals in public relations. The aim is to analyse some gender issues at a global level by exploring the Latin American subcontinent, where there is an accepted lack of knowledge. With that purpose, the focus is on the public relations practitioners’ care responsibilities (such as living with children or dependents) and if these responsibilities influence their opportunities for career development in Latin American countries. Quantitative data from 803 Latin American practitioners representing 18 countries were analysed through predictive multivariable analysis with data mining techniques, using hierarchical decision trees. The applied statistical method is valid to explain some of the extra-organizational factors that affect female career promotion in public relations and can be used for other studies. Results empirically found that family dependency and caring responsibilities affect the career opportunities of women, and that family responsibilities do not affect men’s chances to career promotion. Therefore, the predictive analysis statistically proves that gender can be a determinant factor for career promotion in these circumstances.