ABSTRACT
What would public relations theory and research for women look like, and why do we need it? The question may seem to be covering old ground: there is nothing new in arguing in favor of a feminist theory in public relations. In uenced by women’s movements for social change and by feminist scholarship across academic disciplines, feminist public relations researchers have been concerned about the status of women in public relations as a professional practice. They have been concerned about shifts in the numbers of women and men in public relations practice, disparate salaries and responsibilities between women and men, and “glass ceilings” that block women from moving into senior public relations positions. They have argued for incorporating feminine/feminist values into public relations practice. Despite over two decades of academic argument in favor of it, however, a feminist theory of public relations remains underdeveloped and uneven because the goal has been a feminist theory for public relations rather than of public relations. Current efforts have not taken into account various feminist theoretical positions that illuminate rather than take for granted gender systems, women’s identities, power relations, social injustice, and social change. The work of Canadian sociologist Dorothy E. Smith incorporates most of these theoretical positions in order to problematize features of the
social world, making her an important example of how feminist social theory can be used to develop a critical public relations theory with the goal of bene ting women and, ultimately, all people.
