The Journey is “Still That Hard” for Women in Journalism

And how we can save media, with Professor Brooke Kroeger

Well, wow — this was not a good week for journalism. Sharper observers than I called it a “bloodbath,” with layoffs and closures hitting a variety of publications. As Professor Brooke Kroeger (NYU) illuminates in Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism, women journalists in particular have long faced (and overcome) steep challenges. In conversation, Professor Kroeger tells some of their stories and draws lessons for how we can help media through “a time of great stress.”

A condensed transcript edited for clarity is below. You can also listen to the audio of our conversation, which includes further discussion of Margaret Fuller, a celebrated journalist in the mid-1800s; the two Idas; changes at The New York Times over the years; whether or not Professor Kroeger is secretly an Olympic champion; and more:

I never use hyperbole

Ben: Professor Kroeger, today I’d like to trace the many steps forward, and backward, for women in journalism.

Let’s begin around 1890. Then, women made up 20 percent of the nation’s total workforce but less than 5 percent of the 21,849 editors and reporters. Why did that figure begin to tick up?

BK: In no small part because of three journalists: Nellie Bly and the two Idas, so to speak.

All three worked in an investigative vein. In Nellie's case, it was performance: basically stunts and orchestrated situations that she put herself into and would then write about. For example, she went undercover at a women’s asylum in New York for ten days, later writing a famous exposé. 

The two Idas relied more on documentary evidence. Ida Tarbell went after Standard Oil in the early 1900s. Ida B. Wells, of course, documented lynching. 

Each of these women earned nationwide recognition. By 1900, no doubt thanks to their impact, the number of woman journalists had nearly doubled from ten years before. 

Ben: At the same time you point out some troubling trends in pay equity that solidified around this time. What happened?

BK: Well, as women came into the field in greater numbers, they worked mostly in the “women's pages.” Those pages brought in a lot of revenue. They held huge department store ads, perfume ads, elixir ads — you name it. So women were increasingly needed by publishers, and as more women in turn wanted journalism careers, they were willing to accept what they were offered or risk forgoing the chance. The practice of paying women less quickly became entrenched.

Ben: I noted that a common stereotype used to justify lower wages was that women couldn’t be trusted to totally relate the facts as they were. Charles Dana, editor and part-owner of the New York Sun, once claimed women “find it impossible not to exaggerate.”  

BK: Isn't that incredible? 

Ben: Yes, although in Charles Dana's defense, I’ve found that men never exaggerate. 

BK: ...

Ben: ...usually.

BK: Publishers had other justifications for why women couldn't do more prestigious work at newspapers: that they needed chaperones, couldn’t go out late at night, wouldn’t be safe on war fronts, etc.

Ben: Let's talk about war reporting for a little bit. Maybe World War II offers a good lens into this history.