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3 Summer 2007
Women leave full-time news jobs because of a lack of opportunity, low salaries, lack of mentors, inflexible work schedules and differing perspectives on news from male-oriented newsrooms.
ince the 1980s, women have composed a majority of undergraduate students in university journalism and mass communication programs, and their numbers are growing. In their most recent survey of journalism and mass communication college students, Becker and his co-authors reported that nearly two-thirds of undergraduates and masters students are women.1 Yet the ratio of women to men working in professional newsrooms remains the reverse of college classrooms. The American Society of Newspaper Editors reported in its 2005 annual survey that only 37 percent of newsroom employees are women.2 The most recent American Journalist Survey also reported that one-third of fulltime journalists are women, a percentage that has remained the same since the early 1980s.3 The same survey noted that women constitute the majority of journalists with fewer than five years of work experience54.2 percent.4 This is the first time in the ongoing survey that women have outnumbered men in that category. Obviously, something is driving women from newsrooms. Therefore, the research question was: Why do some women who study journalism in college later decide to leave full-time newsroom jobs? Various studies have documented factors that could be driving women out of the journalism workforce, including low pay, family concerns, unusual and irregular working hours and a glass ceiling in newsrooms.5 Other research has shown that male and female journalists define journalism differently but that in
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Everbach is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and the Mayborn Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas. Flournoy is an assistant professor in the Division of Journalism at Southern Methodist University.
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 53 most newsrooms, men construct hierarchical and bureaucratic structures to enforce their definition of news.6 Womens journalistic work goals sometimes conflict with masculine ideals of important journalism7 and female journalists often feel pressure to prove themselves as one of the men, even though they may have different social and personal concerns than do men and different definitions of what is news.8 It is crucial that both journalism educators and newsroom managers understand why women leave newsrooms so they can find ways to retain them. The trend of female students dominating journalism programs shows few signs of diminishing. In 2004, women received 65.4 percent of journalism bachelors degrees, the highest percentage since the end of World War II.9 But many female journalism graduates eventually forsake the profession. Professors must understand why women leave newsroom jobs so they can help their students succeed as journalists. Therefore, the reasons behind female journalists exits from newsrooms were studied by talking to the sourcesthe women who left.
54 - Newspaper Research Journal Vol. 28, No. 3 Summer 2007 large newspapers.15 One in four of the women said discrimination was a significant or very serious problem.
Method
The researchers conducted individual, in-depth, standardized-question interviews16 with 17 women who had worked full-time in journalism after college and subsequently decided to leave their jobs. The interview method was chosen because it provides rich detail and description. Although only 17 women were interviewed, the sample members demographics varied greatly. Their journalism experience ranged from one year to 30 years, and their years of birth ranged from 1949 to 1982. Thirteen of the women were Caucasian, four were Asian and one was black. Nine were married and eight were unmarried. Nine had children and eight did not (although the married women not always were the same women who had children). The women lived throughout the United States.17 Because of the diversity of the sample chosen, 17 in-depth interviews substantiated enough data for a clear picture of women who left journalism jobs. In telephone interviews of one hour to two hours during 2004 and 2005, the respondents were asked a consistent list of questions. Many of the respondents talked about subjects beyond the set of questions, and follow-up questions based on these topics were asked. Most questions sparked discussiona conversation with a purposeas described by Lindlof.18 Interview subjects were located through snowball sampling, which was chosen because it provided a wide cross-section of women.19 The women were promised anonymity in compliance with human subjects approval from the University of North Texas Institutional Review Board and the Southern Methodist University Institutional Review Board. To protect their identities, respondents were coded FJ1 through FJ17 (Female Journalist 1 through Female Journalist 17). After completing the interviews, characteristics of each respondent were identified and the data were analyzed. Transcripts of the interviews were examined and patterns and themes were identified, employing inductive reasoning to find answers to the research question.20
Results
Several respondents expressed passion for journalism but said they were disappointed by newsroom cultures that failed to accommodate their needs and desires. They said they enjoyed journalism as a career but the hours and demands of the newsroom did not fit well within their lives. Its very difficult to lead a balanced life in the newspaper business, especially in a competitive market, said FJ2.21 You were supposed to give your blood to the news, and after 10 years of that, it took its toll. A cultural shift in
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 55 newsrooms allowing flexibility in work schedules might help retain more women, but managers resist such changes with a subtle, dismissive attitude, more than anything else, that I think finally pushes women out the door.22 FJ9 said newspaper work hours became incompatible with her family responsibilities.23 It was an intolerable work environment. I had a 2-year-old child who I rarely saw because he was in day care.24 When FJ9s father offered her a job in the family business with more stable hours, she accepted. FJ4 left the newsroom because she wanted to have a child: The intensity I used in my job, I didnt think it was compatible with having a family. Whatever my vision was of being a wife and mother wasnt compatible with my vision of being a newspaper reporter. I think of the types of women in newsrooms, and there werent a lot who were happily married and had children.25 FJ16 left to stay home with young children. There are days when I think Ive got the best of all possible worlds because I get to make my own schedule and do what I want to do. However, when you decide you want to ramp down your professional life in favor of family, you dont have the same challenges.26 Indeed, several women said their new professional roles did not ignite the same passion they felt for journalism. FJ13 said that while her newspaper company was skimpy on resources and pay, the higher-paying advertising agency where she now works is too fake, too commercial compared with journalism.27 FJ13 said she might eventually return to a newsroom. FJ7 said the culture of her newsroom made her nervousthe unpredictability of it, the long hours, not knowing each day what youre getting into.28 She now works in corporate public relations, which is more predictable, but I dont know that I have a passion for this the way that I hoped to have.29 FJ11 reported that she became disillusioned with newspapers after recognizing managers singled out reporters, most of them male, anointing them golden boys and giving them choice assignments. Many of the editors are men and its the human condition to relate to people who are most like you. The only people the top editor would come out into the newsroom to talk to about sports and other stuff like that were the ones considered the good reporters because they were brash and had bravado. My reaction to that is that the reporters with brash and bravado were the ones I trusted the least.30
56 - Newspaper Research Journal Vol. 28, No. 3 Summer 2007 Now a city spokeswoman, FJ11 said public relations is not something I am passionate about. But journalism careers are not conducive to having a balanced or family life.31 Some respondents said newsroom demands were unreasonable. FJ2 said most newspaper managers look down upon reporters and editors who choose to put their families first. And usually, thats women.32 Her current part-time job in public relations allows her to have a more balanced life with her child. Now I see all kinds of things that people do. I always wondered what people did during the day.33 After a decade in newsrooms she became jaded.34 FJ8 said the grind of newspaper reporting was depressing. I had no life. All I did was work.35 After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, she heard people saying, He died doing what he loved. It was then, she said, that I realized I was not doing that.36 FJ17 said that after 10 years in newsrooms . . . I realized that in journalism you spend a lot of time watching what other people do and writing about it. You dont do anything yourself. I just got tired of watching the world go by.37 She took a pay cut to become a teacher. Other respondents, especially those in big cities with high costs of living, said low journalism salaries drove them out of newsrooms. They said their pay did not match the work they were doing, and they could not afford the kind of lives they wanted. FJ12, the primary breadwinner in a family of five, called journalism the last legalized form of slavery38 because of its high demands and low pay. She said she earns a much higher salary in public relations and advertising than in journalism. FJ13 found newspaper salaries insulting and now receives higher pay in advertising.39 The guy emptying my garbage can was making the same amount I was. I went to school, and I was educating a whole population of people, and I was making as much as my garbage man.40 FJ6 changed her career from journalism to advertising because of the salary difference.41 People can barely make a living. As an advertising copywriter I am making at least 30 percent more than I made as a journalist, doing basically the same thing.42 Some respondents said the fact that male co-workers often earned higher salaries contributed to their disillusionment with journalism, including FJ8, now a journalism professor. At one job, she discovered that a male colleague in the same position earned $10,000 a year more than she.43 FJ5, a former radio
Everbach and Flournoy: Women Leave Journalism for Better Pay - 57 reporter and now a lawyer, said she was so disappointed by the treatment of women in journalism and the pay.44 She said discrepancies will not change until women own and operate media companies. FJ9 said her employers didnt pay you enough to live well in southern California. You couldnt afford to buy a house or have a child.45 She said she saw many women leave the business because just like men, we didnt want to stay here and eat dirt for the rest of our lives.46 FJ9 also noted financial concerns are a major reason women with children leave newspapers: Kids cost money, journalism jobs pay you crap, and for the same economic reasons as men, we want to make more money and work fewer hours.47 FJ4 said she became discouraged when she realized young male journalists had advantages over female journalists. A lot of the young female reporters were lowballed. Young male reporters were consistently offered better jobs and pay than young women. Maybe because the bosses saw them as an investmentthey knew a lot of women would leave.48 Several respondents recounted incidents of discrimination and sexism from both male and female managers. FJ1 said managers pushed her to use her looks and her racial background to advance rather than her talent and intelligence.
The women in this study perceived that they were part of a subordinate class at the maledominated news organizations where they worked.
Many of my friends in journalism have achieved success because the first doors that opened for them were purely based on connections and not merit.49 FJ6, who worked in the male-dominated realm of business reporting, said most colleagues attitudes about the job were competitive, which seems to me very male.50 Men tended to be dismissive of women in the industry. I used to deal with these white guys in chinos and they used to talk really slowly to me, although she holds two degrees from Harvard.51 FJ8 pointed out that the content of newspapers reflects the . . .
58 - Newspaper Research Journal Vol. 28, No. 3 Summer 2007 typical newspaper reporter and editorwhite, middle-aged, middle-class men. It skews the worldview. Go to children and family coverage. They dont understand issues; they only react as opposed to examining poverty, drug addiction and all the things that lead to abuse. Its not all neat and tied up; its messy and complicated. The public is not getting an accurate reflection of whats going on.52 Some respondents said an emphasis on male news values prevented them from reporting news they believed was important. FJ14 said she became discouraged because she wanted to change the world through her reporting and realized that would not happen. As an Asian American, she wanted to explain the Vietnamese community in depth to newspaper readers, but quickly learned, I was never going to write the kinds of stories I wanted. They werent interested in in-depth psychological stories; they were interested in quick-hit gang stories.53 FJ8 noted that women generally see more detail and complexity in stories than men. There is less nuance in the news, and women are very good at nuance and gray areas. I think it becomes more cut and dry with men, particularly white, middleclass suburban men.54 FJ3 said bluntly: Men love to talk about themselves and other men.55 Mentoring, or the lack thereof, was a problem for several of the respondents. FJ17 noted that at her newspaper, I saw young, hungry women and nobody was there to help them. I felt I had to prove myself all over again. As a young woman, that could push you out. I think it might be easier for young men.56 FJ9 said women who worked at the higher levels at her newspaper did not help their counterparts in lower positions. She attributed this to behavior learned on elementary school playgrounds, where more popular girls shunned less popular ones. Alpha females have not helped lesser-ranking females. They oppress them.57 Noted FJ15, Women are really abysmal mentors of other women. I dont know what is going on there. Women need to take a role in mentoring other women.58
60 - Newspaper Research Journal Vol. 28, No. 3 Summer 2007 like job sharing, part-time work, telecommuting and on-site day care to accommodate families. They can provide equitable pay and mentoring programs. They can allow women freedom to write about topics they think are interesting and important. These changes will not be easy. They will require newsroom managers to rethink many of their fundamental approaches. But these changes are necessary if newspaper companies want to retain women in newsrooms, according to the results of the interviews. In addition, it is essential that journalism educators inform female students of problems they may face in newsrooms so they can help prepare their students. With knowledge, female students can arm themselves to face potential obstacles and male students can better understand the needs of female colleagues. The researchers classrooms have employed new curriculum elements, including information on sex discrimination and the masculine natures of many newsrooms. They have also introduced strategies on salary and promotion negotiation, suggested young women seek out mentors and provided information on balancing family and work responsibilities. This study has limitations. First, 17 subjects is a relatively small study sample, and it is possible the women in this study are simply a group of disgruntled journalists. However, the researchers are confident the themes expressed by the women ring true among female journalists. Second, the pool of respondents could have been more diverse. The interview subjects were primarily Caucasian, four were Asian and one was black. None was Hispanic or Native American. In the future, researchers could cast a wider net and obtain a larger sample by employing a survey method. Third, this study looked only at women who had quit full-time jobs in newsrooms, not at women who stayed in newsrooms; the latter group could provide different perspectives. Still, these results echo the discouragement women journalists reported in the 1996 Walsh-Childers et al. study on discrimination. Taken together, the costs of lost or burned-out employees, wasted talent, lost readers, and, in some cases, the legal fees and other costs associated with sex discrimination lawsuits must be formidable. As newsroom budgets tighten, it seems increasingly obvious that sex discrimination is a cost newspapers can no longer afford.60 Results suggest that many newsroom managers have yet to grasp the impact of sex discrimination.
Notes 1. Lee B. Becker, Tudor Vlad, Amy Jo Coffey and Maria Tucker, Enrollment Growth Rate Slows; Fields Focus on Undergraduate Education at Odds with University Setting, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator 60, no. 3 (fall 2005): 286-314. 2. ASNE annual survey, 2005 ASNE.org, <http://www.asne.org> (16 April 2005).