“I Don’t Feel Like I’m up against a Wall of Men”: Negotiating Difference, Identity and the Glass Ceiling in Sports Information

Abstract

This research explores how women in college sports public relations cope with their minority status and the related notion of a glass ceiling in the workplace. Drawing from a socialist feminist perspective and Wrigley's (2002) "negotiated resignation" model, we explore how these women negotiate the tension of working in an industry with a glass ceiling, arguing that many may deny a gender identity altogether, instead blaming discrimination on exterior factors or women themselves. In many ways, public relations is a hospitable profession to women. As Grunig, Toth and Hon (2000) note, the values in effective public relations practices are compatible with those associated with mainstream notions of femininity. Demographic trends certainly suggest the profession's attractiveness to women, who constitute about 70% of the workforce (Toth & Cline, 2007). Women have reported that the profession's flexible hours and the perceived lack of sexist barriers also provide a particularly appealing workplace (Toth & Cline). The allure of public relations does not translate to sports PR work, however. Sports information directors (individuals who promote college athletics) complete tasks typical of public relations technicians, including writing press releases and other media-oriented publications, setting up news conferences, providing media services, handling internal communication and maintaining organizational Web sites (Connors, 2007; Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2007; Stoldt, 2000; Stoldt, Miller & Comfort, 2001). Yet, instead of the "feminized" culture often described in public relations literature, female sports information directors (SIDs) make up a minority of the profession. Further, women do not see sports information as particularly amenable to their time schedules and cite sexual harassment as a problematic issue (Whiteside & Hardin, in press).