Another theme is that wars are good for women. Men are pulled out of jobs and sent to fight; women often take their place. Holding on to those jobs after the men return is another matter, but overall women’s presence in journalism (and other professions) doesn’t regress completely. Women also covered wars, usually as stringers paid by the piece as bureau heads wouldn’t put them on staff as war correspondents.
I wish I had known all this when I made my unsuccessful foray into journalism in 1967. After six months working as a writer and photographer for a community newspaper I walked into the offices of four of Chicago’s five daily newspapers. When I asked the front desk about joining the staff I was practically laughed out the door. No one even looked at my carefully prepared portfolio of stories and photographs. I was told that women couldn’t work for their newspapers because “women can’t cover riots.” If I had read Undaunted before I heard this, I could have replied that women have covered wars at least since the Civil War. Since women’s history was among the missing when I went to school, I didn’t know this. Of course, I didn’t have a personal connection either. Nor did I know that most women wrote in the women’s ghetto – whether it was called the women’s page or the style section.
A lot of women journalists married male journalists. That was both good and bad. For some that was the route to an interesting job or getting paid to write at all. For others, it meant they had to choose between family and work.
Kroeger’s history needs context. To understand “How women changed American journalism” it would help to know how journalism changed over the century and half that she covers. Anyone who has read 19th Century newspapers knows that it changed quite a bit. The book has extensive end notes and a good index, but the lack of a bibliography makes it hard to review and pursue sources.
Her own years as a journalist shine through in her writing. Undaunted is a good read.
Copyright © 2023 by Jo Freeman
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