Public Relations Power in the 1990s: Sex, Sexuality and Sexism – A UK Perspective

Abstract

Women working in public relations (PR) in the 1990s developed the power of metamodern pragmatism to avoid being constrained in this decade of contradictions.

This was a time of promise for female empowerment and careers. The PR industry in Britain had quadrupled in size, yet increased feminisation and professionalisation did not resolve gender inequity. Indeed, alongside the existence of ‘old boys clubs’ and hedonistic macho agencies in the industry, the 1990s offered a lad's mag culture and an AbFab image of PR.

An original collaborative historical ‘Café Delphi’ method was developed using three themes (sex, sexuality and sexism) to explore women's careers and contributions in the expanding and increasingly powerful field of PR in the United Kingdom during the 1990s. It built on feminist critique of the industry and paradoxical portrayals of women resulting from significant changes in media, popular culture and a pluralistic marketplace.

Individual and collective experiences of women working in PR at the time reveal the power of attitudes to affect their ability to achieve equality and empowerment. Women navigated tensions between the benefits of accelerated pluralism and the patriarchal resistance in the workplace through performative choices and a deep sense of pragmatism.

Citation

Yaxley, H. and Bowman, S. (2024), "Public Relations Power in the 1990s: Sex, Sexuality and Sexism – A UK Perspective", Bridgen, E. and Williams, S. (Ed.) Women’s Work in Public Relations, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 11-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-538-520241002