#19thAmendment at 100: Where are Women Now?

08/26/20 • 24 min

In this episode spotlighting the historical significance of the 19th Amendment (and with a National Public Radio clip via Knoxville's WUOT referring to Tennessee's historic role), Kelly and Mary Beth discuss:

How -- 100 years later (in the year of COVID-19) -- women's rights in the voting booth have evolved to rights in the workplace, albeit with shortfalls in rights of equal pay for equal work
What the implications of COVID-19 have been, particularly in the PR industry, given disproportionate numbers of women in this workforce
How women dominating the PR industry have not translated into power in the executive or decision-making levels
Misogyny and male-dominated culture issues in the communications industry ... including particular sub-sectors (like ad agency "bro" cultures) that result in qualified and talented women being held back, passed over, dismissed, marginalized and otherwise treated in ways that create exit-ramps from career pathways
Key statistics reflective of inequities
Anecdotal examples of male cultures that demonize women and gaslight legitimate concerns or calls for accountability
Why women must push cultures of accountability -- not only for their own benefit or self-protection, but also for the industries they predominantly work within, such as public relations, to prove value and earn respect

Links:

Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag

Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/
Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr
Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher
Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest

How -- 100 years later (in the year of COVID-19) -- women's rights in the voting booth have evolved to rights in the workplace, albeit with shortfalls in rights of equal pay for equal work
What the implications of COVID-19 have been, particularly in the PR industry, given disproportionate numbers of women in this workforce
How women dominating the PR industry have not translated into power in the executive or decision-making levels
Misogyny and male-dominated culture issues in the communications industry ... including particular sub-sectors (like ad agency "bro" cultures) that result in qualified and talented women being held back, passed over, dismissed, marginalized and otherwise treated in ways that create exit-ramps from career pathways
Key statistics reflective of inequities
Anecdotal examples of male cultures that demonize women and gaslight legitimate concerns or calls for accountability
Why women must push cultures of accountability -- not only for their own benefit or self-protection, but also for the industries they predominantly work within, such as public relations, to prove value and earn respect

Links:

Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag

Previous Episode

WATE-TV's Tearsa Smith & Community Journalism

Tearsa talks about the values she brings to the newsroom:

Her early career experience and what shaped her pathway as a student and a new professional in the field, as well her early influences
How the Black Lives Matter movement has evolved and transformed in messaging and meaning in the community over recent years (and what it means to Tearsa in her work and in her family life as a woman of color)
How Tearsa has built a national network of fellow female journalists of color to share career experiences and support one another in ways that may be difficult for them to find in their own workplaces alone
How she responds to viewers and how they react in different ways to news coverage
Importance of diversity of news sources for all Americans
How telling stories of race in the community brings unique complexities, and how those issues are handled in the newsroom in service to the expectations of the community
Why true care for fellow human beings really matters... but how all community members are not experiencing the same things -- and why true empathy for those differences is so important.

Connect with Tearsa on social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TearsaSmith @TearsaSmith

https://www.wate.com/author/tearsa-smith/

Next Episode

Rax Lakhani: PR, Diversity & the International Perspective

Rax Lakhani, CMPRCA, and his family -- immigrants to the UK -- have been no strangers to discrimination, but many of the stories he's heard shared in 2020 among PR colleagues of color as well as across many diverse communities in the industry have given him pause.

His sense of urgency to make positive Diversity & Inclusion outcomes a reality mirror that of the PRCA, the PRCA's Diversity Network as well as PRCA's Race and Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB), in light of events this year to make substantive change a reality.

In this episode, listeners from inside the United States in particular will gain tremendous perspective on the global issues tied to D&I and how the challenges at hand may not differ all that much from what we face in the U.S. -- yet must be undertaken with a universal commitment and in solidarity as a global industry.

Follow on social media:

Rax Lakhani:

LinkedIn -- https://www.linkedin.com/in/raxlakhani/

Twitter -- @RaxLakhani https://twitter.com/RaxLakhani

PRCA -- @PRCA_UK https://twitter.com/PRCA_UK

PRCA Diversity Network -- @PRCA_Diversity https://twitter.com/PRCA_Diversity

PRCA Race and Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB) -- @PRCA_REEB https://twitter.com/PRCA_REEB

Fletcher PR:

https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fletcherpr

Kelly Fletcher: https://twitter.com/KDfletcher

Mary Beth West: https://twitter.com/marybethwest