Sex, Sexuality, and Sexism: A Generational Comparison of Women’s Freelance Career Experiences in the UK Public Relations Industry

Bowman, Sarah, Yaxley, Heather and Bridgen, Elizabeth (2025) Sex, Sexuality, and Sexism: A Generational Comparison of Women’s Freelance Career Experiences in the UK Public Relations Industry. In: Gender and Freelancing in the Communication Industries. Experiences, Practices, Discourses. Emerald Publishing Limited, United Kingdom, pp. 135-152. ISBN 9781835491539

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Abstract

This chapter studies women’s freelance career experiences in public relations (PR) from the 1990s to present. It employs a collaborative Café Delphi approach blending two interactive and iterative data collection methods: World Café and Delphi. A “desire for freedom” is identified from communication clusters involving female freelance PR practitioners (across a generational age range). Learnings from collective discoveries include a paradox of freedom and pressure, and a conundrum in helping clients to think strategically. This harvest resembles a community of practice discussing professional identities and gendered experiences. Across age groupings similarities are evident and an intergenerational view of society and PR practice is proposed. Variance from a theme of sexism in an earlier study underlines significance of freedom and empowerment (aligned with a theme of sexuality) in women’s freelance careers. The researchers’ original Delphi reflections present gathering/ungathering commentaries in an outro. These surface opportunities and connections for spinstorying, manifestations of freedom, intergenerational “co-existence”, unexpected discoveries, researcher positionality, and “talking back” as revealing what truly matters.

Item Type:	Book Section
Depositing User:	JISC Router
Date Deposited:	17 Sep 2025 08:17
Last Modified:	17 Sep 2025 08:27
URI:	https://bnu.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/20644

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