"It’s trivial, bitchy and dull" - Why Women Leave Public Relations and How They renegotiate Their Identities

This chapter explores the motivations behind female decisions to leave the public relations industry and explores how women negotiate their revised identities in their new careers. Through interviews with women who voluntarily resigned from public relations careers, this study found that the overriding reason for women leaving public relations was because they felt there was a lack of meaning in their work. This was due to either being unable to take part in ‘meaningful’ work offered by their organisation as caring restrictions meant that they were not considered (or felt unable to take up) more exciting projects. Others felt excluded by ‘bitchiness’ in the workplace and the triviality of commercial public relations work.