CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The study anticipated that gender roles may exist in the practice of public relations by managers and technicians of the Ghana Commercial Bank, the Electoral Commission and the University of Ghana. This was because gender relates to the psychological, social and cultural differences between males and females (Gidden and Sutton, 2009). Gender is a cross- cutting issue which makes it inevitable for any aspect of human life to escape gender relations.
The impact and influence of gender is obvious in society as certain roles and activities are thought to be appropriate or inappropriate for a particular gender group. Men are thought to exercise agency and are more aggressive, self-sufficient and analytical. Women, on the other hand, are thought to be nurturing, affectionate, gentle and are often expected to be in less assertive positions (Fernandez and Coello, 2010). In Ghana, studying gender in any field is important because cultural influences and social expectations may have an influence on what people do.
“Gender division of labour in Ghana is evident across the country,” (Gender Policy for Ghana, 2011: 3). This policy suggests that there is work that is appropriate for men and women because of their orientation and socialisation. Therefore, gender has a role to play in most occupations.
Public relations is said to be a gendered field, according to studies conducted in Canada, Australia and the United States of America (Rea, 2007). These studies found that women dominated or out-numbered men in PR practice (Rea, 2007, Schuebel, 2009, Janus 2008).
Owing to the events of the World War II, women got the opportunity to leave home to fill positions in the work place. Women found public relations to be favourable because it had less institutional barriers unlike law and medicine that allowed only men to practise (Janus, 2008).
Public relations scholars prescribe four roles for PR practitioners: the expert prescriber, the problem solver, the communication facilitator and the communication technician. These roles are collapsed into two broad roles. These are the technician role, where the majority of females tend to group, and managerial roles, where the majority of men tend to hold jobs (Schuebel, 2009). The technician provides journalistic skills, like writing and editing while the manager is often involved in decision-making and counselling management (Frederick, 2003).
The Concept of Gender
Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women (Janus, 2008). According to Coon (2001), gender is the psychological and social characteristics associated with being either male or female. It involves the construction, negotiation and performance of masculine and feminine identities. Gender roles are therefore, “the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed needs are satisfied” (Reiter, 1975 cited in Janus 2008: 5). Gender stereotypes affect how men and women behave and how well they do in certain activities. Lips (2001) argues that individuals face stereotype threats when they become aware that they are being subjected to gender based judgement by society. They may also develop stereotype threat due to fears of self-fulfilling negative stereotypes about their gender group. Gender roles and stereotypes affect men and women in different ways and individuals may be judged by how
well they conform to these traditional stereotypes. Pleck (1976) asserts that boys and men are pressured to fulfil a standard of masculinity. Those who do not fulfil the standard often suffer from low self-worth (Pleck et al, 1993).
