For four centuries women have turned to journalism as a means of gaining a voice in a male‐dominated world, although their participation varied due to different national cultures. Early newspapers were produced in family‐run printshops where women took over in the absence of men. During the 19th century, women created periodicals centered on reform movements such as abolition, education, suffrage, and, in the case of China, an end to foot‐binding. In the 20th century women were exploited as “sob sisters” and “stunt girls” for metropolitan newspapers, but nevertheless established themselves as reporters and war correspondents, even though hired chiefly to cover women's and society news. Women initially were virtually barred from radio and television newscasts, but the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the United States and women's liberation internationally greatly expanded their opportunities despite recurring prejudice.
This article reviews recent work that deals with the experience of women in American journalism. It concludes that this work points in the direction of a new synthesis telling a more comprehensive story of women and journalism as an alternative to the present narrative that details women's efforts to succeed professionally by conforming to a male model of journalistic performance. To fully arrive at this synthesis, the article contends, a new de nition of journalism itself is needed-one broad enough to encompass women like Eleanor Roosevelt, who used journalism for political and personal ends not related to the professional norm of objectivity. In calling for a rede nition of journalism to include women's perspectives, the article advocates more use of family-oriented social history and biography as well as more study of women's networking in journalism and women's personal experience recorded in oral histories.
Eighty percent of the respondents, women journalists in Washington, report sexual harassment is a problem for women journalists in general, and 60 percent say it has been problem for them personally.
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