We all know the bigger picture. Women in business are under-represented at board level. Look at the FTSE 100 companies, as highlighted by the Lord Davies report last year and still very much in the news.

But PR is an industry dominated by women – 64 per cent of PRs working in the UK today are women. So why is it that only 22 per cent of these women make it to director level?

More than double that number of men in PR – 48% in fact – make it to the boardroom. This imbalance, especially in the 21^st century, is ridiculous.

There are a number of well-documented reasons why women excel in this profession. We have great people skills, we are brilliant at multi-tasking and, on the whole, we are much better organised than our male counterparts. And as for grey matter, girls are out-performing boys academically now, so there’s no under-achieving there.

Today PR is a career magnet for young people of both sexes; perceived as a highly glamorous profession and able to attract the very cream of the crop. But what is is happening to these talented young women as their PR career progresses? Why aren’t they getting to senior management level?

The obvious and oft-cited reason is the pressures and demands of family life. Usually it’s the woman that takes the career break when babies come along. Of course there is some truth in this. However I would argue that this is only part of the story.

I have personally worked in the consumer lifestyle PR sector for more than 30 years and this is the sector where you will find the highest proportion of women in PR. Is it no coincidence that the fees paid to agencies in consumer PR are far lower than in the more male-dominated corporate, political or financial PR sectors?

Low fees equate to lower salaries and it’s primarily the women working in the consumer PR sector who are being under-valued. The average salary for a man working in PR in the UK is currently 50 per cent higher than for a woman. Not very motivational when you are working long hours and under pressure to meet client demands. And then, probably in your early 30s, as you start to juggle the demands of family life and childcare, you start to question your glamorous career in PR.

So what’s the solution?

Well, first the PR profession needs to set agency standards for minimum client fee levels. Based on hourly rates covering all PR sectors, so there is a parity and transparent fairness in charging clients. Agencies also need to ensure they are paid for the actual time spent on a client’s work. How many of us over-service just to keep the client happy? Do other professions behave like this? When did your accountant or solicitor not charge you for all their time? We need to be confident about the value of our service.

This may also help put a stop to the exploitation of unpaid interns in so many agencies. I believe many agencies are being paid such low fees they just can’t afford to pay for junior staff.

Second, women should be given much greater flexibility in their working life. There is absolutely no reason why this can’t happen. The PR world today is incredibly different from the one in which I started, when the post was the only way of despatching a press release and a landline phone was the only direct means of client communication.

Now, with the benefits of global technology, we all have the freedom to stay in contact and work anywhere in the world. Skype meetings from home, texting on the move and then finishing off those emails at night, when the kids are tucked up in bed.

Come on PR world, let’s make this happen for the industry and for all those talented young women out there!

WPR is a networking organisation for senior women working in the PR industry. It provides an important platform to enable members to share their experiences, assist one another in business and exchange ideas. For details on WPR please visit the website www.womeninpr.org.uk