Diversity management is a sticky issue. It is often interpreted as a set of processes that are designed to change practice. Success is marked by increasing numbers of visibly different people (in more enlightened workplaces, at the higher levels of management, rather than just on reception). But despite good intentions the ‘cultural’ whiteness of professions tends to stick. My research has shown that public relations is no different to other professions in this respect; this is because the perception of people from ‘different’ groups is shaped in the wider social context, rather than in organisations – and these norms filter down into all our social interactions. 

The consequences are significant for those trying to enter professions like PR, where they are one of very few – those with a disability, or from different ethnic groups, for example. Before they can be accepted as professionals, they have to combat people’s expectations of them as, for example, a ‘stutterer’ or ‘an African woman with an accent’. They are defined in terms of their group, rather than as individuals, with all the, often well-meaning, prejudice that that implies. This may result in choices about their professional development being taken out of their hands: ‘We won’t ask James to speak, because he might be nervous and then his stutter will get worse and that could make the meeting difficult.’ ‘We won’t ask Tula to go to the meeting because the client might object to her because of her colour and that would dent her confidence’.

Most people reading this would agree that such stereotyping is undeserved, and if these people are competent and meet the required professional standard, then they should be entitled to the same opportunities as anyone else. After all, these things are an accident of birth, are they not?

The corollary of this argument, however, is that whiteness, too, is an accident of birth. Therefore, the inherent privilege of whiteness – in this example, not to be faced with stereotypical assumptions about one’s ability or appropriateness, and to have the right to professional self-determination – is also accidental rather than earned. This is why diversity management is so difficult. Privileged individuals in the workplace believe they have worked to get where they are by negotiating neutral ground, rather than their progress being marked by their identity. In contrast, powerful diversity initiatives such as positive discrimination recognise the historical nature of prejudice and address unjust legacies of the past as well as immediate issues of equality in the present.

Introducing such things requires us to politicise the workplace. For PR practitioners, who are not used to being in the frontline, this is particularly difficult. Our profession does not require us to have an opinion on things other than communications strategies, because we are there to serve our clients. When it comes to diversity, however, we must pin our colours to a mast if we want things to change.

Lee Edwards is lecturer in corporate communications and PR at Manchester Business School.