FIU’s Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center yesterday released the results of a study that found that women in communication professions are three times less likely than men in the same professions to hold a top management position.
The study, titled Kopenhaver Center Report: Are Communications Professionals Achieving their Potential?,which surveyed more than 1,000 communications professionals from across the United States, also revealed that women are more likely than men to feel they’ve been bypassed for a better, higher position because of their gender and/or because of their race or ethnicity and are three times more likely than men to have experienced a career interruption.
“Women and minorities continue to struggle to receive equal treatment and pay across the different communications disciplines” said Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, director of the center and dean emeritus of the FIU School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “As an industry we must analyze what is the root of this severe inequity and implement strategies to help bridge the gap.”
This is one of the most comprehensive surveys of the industry, having queried communication professionals in six communication disciplines: newspaper, magazine, online/mobile journalism, broadcast, advertising and public relations.
In addition, the report also found that women were considerably more likely than men to earn less than the mean income: 53 percent of the female respondents compared to 41 percent of males reported annual income of less than $75,000.
Men dominated the highest salary bracket of $150,001 and above. In fact, 76 percent of male respondents and 24 percent of females said they worked for organizations with no women in management positions. Newspapers and online/mobile media had higher percentages of women managers than magazine or broadcast journalism, advertising and public relations.
For the complete report, please click here.
