The Hollywood Commission for Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality was founded in 2017 by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and talent attorney Nina Shaw and is Chaired by Anita Hill. In 2019, it conducted the first large-scale survey of the entertainment industry to understand the experience of working in Hollywood and identify gaps that increase exposure to harassment and discrimination.
Nearly 10,000 workers participated from across the entertainment industry, 91 of which worked in Public Relations. Of those 91 PR respondents, 73 were women and 18 were men. Given the small sample size for this cohort, the findings are not conclusive but paint a clear picture of a vulnerable sector of the entertainment economy:
- 59 percent reported experiencing bullying in the past 12 months
- 77 percent reported experiencing discrimination in the past 12 months
- 64 percent reported experiencing gender harassment in the past 12 months
- 73 percent reported experiencing unwanted sexual attention in the past 12 months
As an industry that is expert at creating awareness, we must leverage results like these to drive attention to the real structural issues facing all of us, including our entertainment counterparts:
- PR over indexes in women, and female workers are more likely to face discrimination and harassment than other genders in the workplace.
- As a sector, women make up nearly 72 percent of staff in PR agencies but only occupy 30 percent of management positions. Further, 62 percent of PR agency boards are dominated by men and 74 percent of communications recruiters are men.
- The average salary for a female in PR is 20 percent less than her male colleagues. Equity and equal opportunity are critical for women to ascend to top positions in communications.
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ethnic makeup of the PR industry in the U.S. is 87.9 percent white, 8.3 percent African American, 2.6 percent Asian American, and 5.7 percent Hispanic American.
- PR is a “service” industry that creates a power dynamic that can be easily exploited by those with more perceived power, such as a client or senior executive.
- 65 percent of PR respondents to the Hollywood Survey did not think that a powerful person who harasses an employee would be held accountable.
The Hollywood Commission made several cross-industry recommendations and launched a suite of resources for workers to begin to address the systemic issues it identified in the entertainment industry. While there are some nuances, the Commission’s approach can also apply to the broader PR industry:
- Review internal policies to ensure they provide for equal opportunity employment and advancement and are appropriately rigorous on issues of bullying, harassment and discrimination
- Extend company conduct policy to include third parties (clients), off-site events and meetings where harassment often occurs
- Provide resources and information to employees about reporting issues of workplace discrimination and harassment
- Mandate bias and bystander trainings
- Invest in pay equity studies and address gender pay gaps
- Establish recruitment pipelines with diverse colleges and universities to broaden the talent pool
- Set diversity and inclusion goals and mark progress against them
The people in Hollywood who provide communication counsel on issues of discrimination, harassment and equity must address these same issues in their own industry. As the entertainment business begins to reckon with and mitigate gaps in accountability, entertainment, PR has a timely and auspicious opportunity to lead the way.
Carrie Davis operates CD Consulting, based in Los Angeles, which provides communication counsel to entertainment and corporate clients. She previously led communications at Live Nation Entertainment. She is a member of the USC Annenberg Center for PR Board of Advisors.