The Women's Movement and Its Influence

The women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s was a catalyst for positive change for women who desired careers within the media. Much advancement has been made over the past several decades, but even more progress is necessary before women and men are truly equal in journalism careers.

The women's movement encouraged female journalists to demand equal treatment in a traditionally male dominated field. Prior to the women's movement, positions held by women in the media paid less than men's jobs and did not allow much job mobility. Female writers were usually relegated to the women's pages or society pages, preventing them from writing valuable news stories and putting them out of direct competition with male writers.

In other media outlets, women were similarly excluded from high ranking positions. For example, women working at wire services only received copy from women's pages and women working at news magazines researched articles that would later be written by men. Even the top editorships and writing positions at popular women's magazines were usually occupied by men. Often, women were only advised to pursue journalism careers temporarily so they could hunt for successful husbands in big cities (Taking Their Place 17).

In 1969, the Associated Press encouraged female journalists to "do your best to do everything the way a male boss wants it done". The same manual advised the men in charge to "provide the reason, the authority and the security to direct a woman". Because women were generally stereotyped, it was the media industry's standard to have women working for men, even at popular women's magazines like The Ladies' Home Journal (Taking Their Place 19).

In 1960, women numbered only 37% of those employed in all publishing, including newspapers, magazines, and books. For the women's movement to be successful, the media had to be receptive. Women in the media were expected to support the women's movement by serving as a catalyst for change within their industry, outwardly affecting the information presented to the public and inwardly pushing for equality with their male colleagues.

However, female journalists sometimes felt torn when reporting on the women's movement. On one hand, the movement appealed to their personal concerns and offered possible solutions to problems they experienced firsthand, like gender discrimination and pay inequality. On the other hand, female journalists felt obligated to provide an objective view of events and keep their personal feelings out of their stories. Some even ridiculed the movement in their news stories to please their male editors and avoid being fired or demoted (Taking Their Place 20).

In 1960, Newsweek ran a cover story concerning the lives of suburban women ("Young Wives with Brains: Babies, Yes, But What Else?"), but other women's magazines like Redbook and Harper's Bazaar paid only superficial attention to contemporary women's problems, if they were addressed at all (Taking Their Place 7). The media pictured American women as happy housewives, completely satisfied by their homes and families (The New Majority 38).

Professional women mobilized and created the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966 to address the women's issues that were being glossed over or ignored by the media. NOW's establishment received no serious mention in major news outlets; for example, the New York Times ran an article about NOW in the women's pages, located beneath recipes for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner (Taking Their Place 6).

Because the mainstream media largely ignored their movement, feminist activists first communicated through handouts, newsletters, and other underground publications. The male-dominated media industry often did not give serious consideration to stories relating to the women's movement. By 1971, feminist journalists had created over 228 newsletters, newspapers, and magazines related to the movement (Taking Their Place 7).

Still, women were not equally represented in the mainstream media. The 1970 census reported that women in journalism were outnumbered by men 2:1 and usually occupied the lower ranks. When Ms. magazine debuted in 1972, it provided feminist voices with a widespread outlet and urged a significant audience of American women to scrutinize their job situations and demand fair treatment (Taking Their Place 22).

Partially because of the increased awareness of women's issues created by Ms., numerous news outlets, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Associated Press, and Reader's Digest, faced class action sex discrimination complaints and lawsuits by the 1970s (Taking Their Place 22).

The class action lawsuit Boylan vs. The New York Times made an enormous contribution to women in the media industry. Other media outlets had been involved in such lawsuits, but this suit concerned an unsurpassed number of women. The case originated with 90 complaints against the newspaper company to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1972 and 1973 (Taking Their Place 239). When the Times ignored the complaints, copy editor Elizabeth Boylan sued in federal court with six of her female colleagues (Williams 1).

When the district court declared the case to be class action in April 1977, the women became representatives of the 545 other female employees covered by the New York Newspaper Guild contract (Taking Their Place 240). By October 1977, the suit was settled in district court. In an important precedent for women in the industry, the New York Times agreed to "place significant numbers of women at every level in every news and commercial department of the newspaper" and distribute back pay to the women covered by the lawsuit (Taking Their Place 240). Because of the New York Times' prominence in the industry, Boylan vs. The New York Times affected the conduct of other news outlets hoping to avoid such credibility-damaging and expensive lawsuits.

A ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also aided women seeking employment within the media. The FCC previously held that equal opportunity be given to people of all races and in 1971, extended the right to women. This allowed many more female journalists to be hired as reporters for local and network television news stations (Taking Their Place 22).

Although women with media jobs made some advances at this time, young women who had not yet begun their careers also faced challenges. Journalism education, as well as the outside industry, was dominated by men. In 1965, the Association for Education in Journalism (AEJ), which represented 56 schools or departments of journalism, included only seven women who were full professors (The New Majority 38). In 1961, 41 % of journalism majors were female. Journalism was a popular major for women, but male students still outnumbered them and they had very few female role models. AEJ created a committee on the Status of Women in 1972 to address the inequality between male and female journalism students and faculty members. The group held a session to focus on women's issues and came to this general conclusion:

"If you are a woman, you tend to be ranked lower, promoted more slowly, and paid less than your colleagues who are male" (The New Majority 39).

Their findings led to more attention and further research on women's standing in the field. It was discovered that the enrollment of women in journalism was large at the undergraduate level but dropped off dramatically at the master's level and consisted of only 10% at the doctorate level (The New Majority 40). The shortage of qualified women urged universities to employ more female faculty members and accept more female students (The New Majority 42).

The media has changed slowly as a result of the women's movement, with the amount of women involved increasing slowly through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990, a survey conducted by the Women, Men, and Media Conference found that women were often still not being taken seriously in the media even thirty years after the women's movement first took hold. The group surveyed 55,000 employees from 1,600 American daily newspapers and found that women averaged just 14% of sources and 28% of the bylines. America's leading newspaper, the New York Times, had the lowest average with women making up just 6% of sources. When asked about the results, executive editor Max Frankel said,

"As soon as Mr. Gorbachev lets Mrs. Gorbachev do his deciding or even speaking, we will be quoting or photographing more women. I mean that if you are covering local teas, you've got more women on the front page" (The New Majority 45).

Despite this climate, more female students are majoring in journalism. As a result, entry-level salaries are declining in relation to those paid to graduates of other majors (The New Majority 45). The number of women majoring in journalism has increased slowly but steadily ever since the 1960s but employment opportunities are still unequal to men's. Women are more likely to be unemployed after graduation and are less likely than men to find jobs in print media. However, salaries generally do not show much discrimination (The New Majority 44).

Progress has stalled since the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s and women are still underrepresented in the newspaper business, facing many of the same challenges as they did more than thirty years ago. More women have entered the industry but tend to be employed in low- and mid- management positions (Hemlinger 11).

There is a need to attract and keep women in all positions, but the rate of departure from newspaper jobs is higher for women than for men for several reasons. Women are still subtly excluded from casual networks that help career opportunities and are victims of stereotyping and other preconceptions about women in general. Also, stressful and demanding journalism careers make it difficult for women to balance their home and families with their careers, making family the number one reason why women leave the industry (Hemlinger 65).

The victories won during the women's movement made it possible for female journalists to break into the male-dominated industry and prove themselves to be equal. Although the movement made a significant contribution to women seeking careers in journalism, most of the same barriers still exist today. Women must be extra assertive and demand equal treatment to be successful in media careers.

Works Cited

Beasley, Maurine H., and Kathryn T. Theus. The New Majority: A Look at What the Preponderance of Women in Journalism Education Means to the Schools and to the Professions. New York: University Press of America, 1988.

Beasley, Maurine H., and Sheila J. Gibbons. Taking Their Place: A Documentary History of Women and Journalism. New York: University Press of America, 1993.

Hemlinger, Mary Arnold. Women in Newspapers: How Much Progress Has Been Made? Evanston: Media Management Center, 2001.

Williams, Marjorie. "Without Fear or Females: The New York Times' girl trouble." Washington Monthly, March 1992.