Sex Discrimination in U.S. Newsrooms:
Will the Glass Ceiling Shatter Before the New
Millennium?
by
Kim Walsh-Childers
Jean Chance
Kristin Herzog
College of Journalism and Communications
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
Submitted to the Commission on the Status of Women for presentation
at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
conference in Washington, D.C., August 1995.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Special thanks to UF graduate student Naomi Rifkin
for her work on the survey. The authors also would like to thank
Anita Kugler, Denise Prodigo, Erica Shepard, Laura Smith, Heloiza
Herscovitz, Roselyn Dailey and the other volunteer interviewers for
their assistance on this project.
ABSTRACT
(150 words)
Sex Discrimination in U.S. Newsrooms:
Will the Glass Ceiling Shatter Before the New
Millennium?
Kim Walsh-Childers, Jean Chance, & Kristin Herzog
College of Journalism and Communications
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
904-392-3924
email: [log in to unmask]
A survey of 227 women reporters, photographers, editors and graphic
artists revealed that more than nearly two-thirds believe sex
discrimination is at least somewhat a problem for women journalists,
and
almost 40 percent said sex discrimination has been a at least somewhat
a
problem for them personally. One-fifth had been passed over for
promotion
by a less qualified man at least once; 40 percent had been offered or
hired
for a position at a salary lower than a man's would have been. About 27
percent had been denied a beat, story or photo assignment they wanted
because of their gender. Women working in male-dominated newsrooms were
most likely to believe men have an unfair advantage in getting the best
assignments. Age and years of experience were related to most types of
discrimination. Women still face a "glass ceiling" at U.S. newspapers,
and
frustration about discrimination causes stress and job turnover.
ABSTRACT
(75 words)
A survey of 227 women newspaper journalists revealed that more than
nearly two-thirds believe sex discrimination is at least somewhat a
problem
for women journalists, and almost 40 percent said sex discrimination has
been a at least somewhat a problem for them personally. One-fifth had
been
passed over for promotion by a less qualified man at least once; 40
percent
had been offered or hired for a position at a salary lower than a man's
would have been.
Sex Discrimination in U.S. Newsrooms:
Will the Glass Ceiling Shatter Before the New
Millennium?
ABSTRACT
(150 words)
Sex Discrimination in U.S. Newsrooms:
Will the Glass Ceiling Shatter Before the New
Millennium?
A survey of 227 women reporters, photographers, editors
and graphic artists revealed that more than nearly
two-thirds believe sex discrimination is at least
somewhat a problem for women journalists, and almost 40
percent said sex discrimination has been a at least
somewhat a problem for them personally. One-fifth had
been passed over for promotion by a less qualified man
at least once; 40 percent had been offered or hired for
a position at a salary lower than a man's would have
been. About 27 percent had been denied a beat, story or
photo assignment they wanted because of their gender.
Women working in male-dominated newsrooms were most
likely to believe men have an unfair advantage in
getting the best assignments. Age and years of
experience were related to most types of discrimination.
Women still face a "glass ceiling" at U.S. newspapers,
and frustration about discrimination causes stress and
job turnover.
ABSTRACT
(75 words)
A survey of 227 women newspaper journalists revealed
that more than nearly two-thirds believe sex
discrimination is at least somewhat a problem for women
journalists, and almost 40 percent said sex
discrimination has been a at least somewhat a problem fo
r them personally. One-fifth had been passed over for
promotion by a less qualified man at least once; 40
percent had been offered or hired for a position at a
salary lower than a man's would have been.
SEX DISCRIMINATION IN U.S. NEWSROOMS:
WILL THE GLASS CEILING SHATTER BEFORE THE NEW MILLENNIUM?
By the year 2000, women will make up nearly 50 percent of the labor force
in the United States. Although U.S. Department of Labor reports say
women
make up 40 percent of the managers and administrators in the work
force,
few occupy chief executive officer or publisher or editor status or
appear
to be in the pipeline to be promoted into the highest level positions.
In 1990 Fortune magazine conducted a follow-up of a 1978 project that
examined proxy statements from 799 public companies on its combined
lists
of the 1,000 largest industrial and service companies in the United
States.
In 1978, the magazine found that of 6,400 officers and directors named on
the company statements, 10 were women. Twelve years later, when
Fortune
examined the 1990 proxy statements of the same public companies, had
baby
come a long way? Hardly. There were 19 women, less than one half of
one per
cent of the 4,012 people listed as the highest-paid officers and directors
of these companies. Fortune called the progress "remarkably limited" (
Fortune, July 30, 1990).
Census Bureau data analyses of 1990 media earnings for year-round,
full-time workers reflected a new all-time high for women -- 71 percent of
men's earnings, up from 68 percent in 1989 and 60 percent in 1980. But
rather than reflecting rising salaries for women, the figures reflect
three
years of declining earnings for men after their salaries were adjusted for
inflation. Reporting on those figures, Business Week columnist Karen
Pennar projected concern for women's future economic status and pointed
to
the number of women who run family households and have lesser earning
power
than men. "Fully 37% of all female-headed families, according to the
Census Dept., have incomes that rank in the bottom fifth of the nation's
income distribution," Pennar warned (Business Week, October 28, 1991).
Sex discrimination among women journalists, page
In assessing where women are positioned in the 1990s in news and news
reporting, Maurine Beasley and Sheila Gibbons optimistically point to
studies by Jean Gaddy Wilson, executive director of New Directions for
News. Since 1960 more than a million women a year have joined the
American
work force, an increase of 28 million women during a 26-year period,
Wilson
has reported. Although journalism has drawn more women into the industry,
Beasley and Gibbons caution that at U.S. newspapers, 35 percent of the
work
force is female. Of news employees, about half are female, but only 15
percent of the executives are women. In 1987, 79 of 1,454 publishers
and
general managers -- 5.2 percent -- were women. And 25 percent of those
were
employed by one company -- Gannett -- the largest newspaper publishing
group in the United States (Beasley and Gibbons, 1993).
Beasley concedes that change has come slowly. In 1993, she decried the
failure of newspapers to increase the number of women in the country's
newsrooms from 34 percent since 1983. "Clearly women are far from equal
to
men in American journalism, a field in which they have proved their
competence for two centuries (Beasley, 1993).
A 1993 study of 80 women newspaper reporters in Washington, D.C.,
reflected general frustration by the respondents over "good ol' boy"
networking and general perceptions of discrimination in their newsrooms.
Researcher Dianne Lynch (1993) concluded:
by inference, we can conclude that the very situation in which they
now function may, in and of itself, be sufficient to inhibit
their
professional advancement. It may be that success, as measured by
newswomen themselves, remains out of reach.
The Denver Woman's Press Club and the University of Colorado Center for
Mass Media Research surveyed 145 women working in print and
broadcasting in
the Denver area in 1989 about their career experiences. The women
concluded that they have reached career plateaus and still are subjected to
sex discrimination, predicting that they will have a more difficult time
advancing professionally than their male counterparts. More than 65
percent
said they would have done better financially if they had not chosen jour
nalism as a profession (Editor & Publisher, 1990).
Women journalists of the 1990s find themselves covering stories that they
are also personally experiencing in the workplace: charges of sex
discrimination by employers in their city may also include the news
organization for whom they work. In the summer of 1991, the St. Petersburg
(Fla.) Times broke the story that one of that city's larger employers
was
accused by women workers of paying less qualified men higher wages.
Men
were being promoted sooner and were given better assignments. What made
the
story particularly significant was that the story was being self-reported:
the company in question was the St. Petersburg Times. Many of the
reporters, editors and photographers who crowded into Chief Executive
Andrew Barnes' office to air complaints had stories of gender bias equal
to
any reported in any other industry, and their anecdotes were backed with
solid data, including comparisons of the percentages male and female
bylines on the newspapers' front page and section fronts (Times News
Women,
1991). The 16-page report the women delivered to Barnes contained a litany
of frustration over gender bias, corporate culture, job equity and pay
equity conflicts, (as well as abusive sexual harassment) and charges
that
the newspaper cultivated a climate of fear that prevented women from
reporting discrimination and harassment.
Although many surveys reflect improvements in women's employment
prospects, fewer women today than in 1975 believe that women in the United
States have equal job opportunities with men, the Gallup Report group
has
found. A 1987 Gallup Report analysis showed that only 35 percent of
the
women surveyed thought that women have job equality, and 56 percent
believed that women are discriminated against. Half the women in the
telephone survey of 515 adults said women do not have equal access to
executive ranks (Gallup Report, 1987).
Measuring what sex discrimination costs the newspaper industry is
difficult, but certainly the price includes the costs of litigation and
case settlement fees to productivity losses due to absenteeism and poor
work performance. Other costs include replacing employees who leave
their
jobs because of discrimination and even perhaps increases in medical
insurance premiums due to higher stress levels, leading to stress-induced
illnesses. Experts disagree on how to estimate the extent to which sex
discrimination damage the workplace, but they do agree that
psychological
factors, human dignity issues and job satisfaction also should be
measured.
There are examples of the monetary pricetag that can be tied to a
successful sex discrimination lawsuit. One publishing company was ordered
to pay $800,000 in punitive damages and $85,000 in compensatory
damages to
an employee who proved that she was passed over for promotion twice in
favor of younger men and subjected to a supervisor's lascivious remarks
by
a supervisor about women (Management Review, May 1993).
The relative dearth of literature detailing U.S. newspaper women's
experiences with sex discrimination suggested a basic need to evaluate the
status of U.S. newspaperwomen in the mid-'90s, some 30 years since
passage
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Two primary provisions of that act,
Title
VII, which prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of
race,
color, religion, sex or national origin, and Title IX, which prohibits
discrimination in educational programs receiving federal aid, make sex
discrimination a violation of federal law (Wood, Gendered Lives). The
purpose of this study, then, was to attempt to discover the extent and
types of sex discrimination U.S. newswomen are experiencing. We began
this
project with the following research questions:
1. How much of a problem is sex discrimination for women journalists at
U.S. newspapers?
2. What kinds of sex discrimination do women journalists experience most
frequently? How often are women passed over for promotion? How often
are
they paid less than their male peers? How often does their gender
interfere
with their assignment to desirable "beats" or specific story or photo
assignment, or to desirable editing positions?
3. What factors are associated with sex discrimination among women
journalists? Do women in predominantly male newsrooms experience more
discrimination? Do women whose supervisors are male experience more
discrimination?
This paper describes the results of a survey of women working at daily
newspapers throughout the United States.
Methods
Female reporters, photographers, editors and graphic artists were randomly
selected for participation in the survey using a multi-level stratified
sampling procedure. First, the researchers drew separate samples of
small,
medium and large newspapers (72 small, 32 medium and 16 large
newspapers).
We then contacted a newsroom manager (usually the managing editor) at
each
newspaper included in the samples and asked him or her to send us a
list of
all the female reporters, editors, photographers and graphic artists on
the newspaper's staff, including those working at bureaus. After
obtaining
these lists, the lists were arranged in random order, and we then
randomly
selected names from the lists. This procedure ultimately produced a
final
sample of 208 women from small newspapers (daily circulation less than
25,000), 184 women from mid-sized newspapers (daily circulation of
25,001-100,000) and 190 women from large newspapers (daily circulation
greater than 100,000).
After all the names had been chosen, we sent each sample member a letter
describing our project and requesting her cooperation.[1] The letter
also
informed sample members that only female students or faculty members
would
be conducting the study interviews. Interviewers first called each
sample
member to arrange an appropriate time and place to complete the
interview;
any woman who did not feel comfortable discussing the subject in her
work
environment were asked for home telephone numbers and called at home.
The
first part of each interview was conducted using a computer-assisted
telephone interviewing program; interviewers subsequently asked each
participant for more details about her experiences, using set open-ended
questions.
The data from the interviews were analyzed using SPSS for Windows.
Measures
Evaluation of sex discrimination as a problem
For this section of the survey, respondents were told that "(f)or the
purposes of the survey, sex discrimination is defined as any instance in
which female employees appear to have been denied opportunities or
rewards
because of their gender and not for any reasons related to their
abilities
or experience." Each respondent then was asked to say whether, in her
opinion, sex discrimination was "no problem at all, not much of a
problem,
somewhat of a problem, a significant problem or a very serious
problem" for
women as newspaper reporters, editors, photographers or graphic artists.
Each respondent used the same scale to indicate how much of a problem
sex
discrimination had been for her personally in her own career as a
journalist.
Experience with sex discrimination
Each respondent was asked if, during her newspaper career, she had been:
*passed over for promotion in favor of a less qualified man;
*passed over for promotion in favor of an equally but not more qualified
man;
*named to a position of authority on an acting or interim basis, but then
denied permanent assignment to the position in favor of a less
qualified
man;
*named to a position of authority on an acting or interim basis, but then
denied permanent assignment to the position in favor of an equally but
not
more qualified man;
*denied assignment to a desirable beat, story or photo assignment because
of (her) gender; *and offered a position or hired for a position at a
salary lower than would have been offered a man with similar abilities
and
experience.
If the woman said she had had this experience, she was asked whether it
had occurred once or more than once. All multiple occurrences of any
particular type of discrimination were coded simply as "more than once."
Perceptions of workplace discrimination
Each respondent was asked the following questions about her perceptions of
pay and job advancement equity among people involved in news-related jobs
at her newspaper:
would you say that, in general, man are paid better than women for the
same jobs, women are paid better than men, or men and women are paid
the
same for the same jobs?
would you say that, in general, men have a better chance of being
promoted, women have a better chance of being promoted, or men and women
have equally good chances of being promoted?
would you say that, in general, men have a better chance of getting
desirable assignments, women have a better chance of getting desirable
assignments, or men and women have equally good chances?
In addition, each respondent was asked whether she strongly agreed,
agreed, neither agreed nor disagreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with
each of two statements about her work environment:
Men and women are treated equally by managers in my workplace.
Male employees treat women peers as equals in my workplace.
Demographic and work-environment information
Each respondent was asked for her year of birth, marital status, job
title, how many years she had worked as a journalist, how many people
worked in the newsroom where she worked, what percentage of those people
were women, whether her immediate supervisor was a man or a woman, and
whether news employees at her newspaper were members of a union.
Results
Our goal had been to include about 100 women from each size of newspapers
in the final survey, and we had anticipated that we would need
approximately twice as many women in the initial sample to account for
refusals to participate, ineligible respondents, sample members who
never
could be reached, etc. The most serious difficulty we encountered
turned
out to be contacting sample members, particularly those from the large
and
mid-sized newspapers, before they left their jobs, often for
employment
outside newspapers. Once we had contacted sample members, refusals to
participate in the survey were quite rare. Of the 582 women included in
the
original sample, we ultimately made some type of contact with 396,
although in 85 cases, we only learned that the woman no longer worked at
that newspaper. Of the 311 women our interviewers did speak with, only
33
refused to participate, for an unusually low refusal rate of 10.6
percent.
Eighty-four other women were contacted and agreed to participate, but
could
not be interviewed because of scheduling difficulties or some other
problem.
Despite the difficulty we had contacting and/or scheduling interviews with
many sample members, the fervor with which women responded to our initial
calls was startling.[2] At least one woman told the interviewer, "I've
had
your letter sitting right here beside my phone. I couldn't wait for you
to
call." Numerous respondents commented that they were delighted that
someone
finally was giving them the chance to tell their stories.
Demographics
Not surprisingly, the largest number of respondents were reporters (39
percent). Eleven percent of the respondents were copy editors, 15
percent
were section editors (i.e. editors of features, business or sports
sections), and 4 percent were city editors or assistant city editors.
Fourteen respondents (6.2 percent) were news editors, and an equal number
described themselves as editors[3]. Six of the repondents (2.6
percent) held
managing editor or assistant managing editor positions, and another
six
were photographers. The remainder of the sample were graphic artists
(4.4
percent), photo editors (1.8 percent), editorial writers or columnists
(1.8
percent), held some other position (1.8 percent) or gave no title (3.5
percent).
__________________________
Table 1 about here
__________________________
Table 1 shows a variety of demographic characteristics of the sample,
including respondents' average age and number of years of experience as
a
journalist, the average number of employees in their newsrooms and the
average percentage of female newsroom employees. The women ranged in age
from 23 to 74, and their experience as journalists ran from less than
one
year to 45 years. The smallest newsroom had only three employees; the
largest an estimated 400 employees. The percentage of newsroom employees
who were women ranged from 4 to 90 percent. About two-thirds (67
percent)
of the women had males as their immediate supervisors, about 31
percent had
female immediate supervisors, and five women reported having one or more
supervisor of each gender. Nearly half of the women (47.6 percent)
were
married, and slightly fewer (41 percent) described themselves as
"single."
Twenty-one women were divorced (9.3 percent), and five described their
status as "other."[4]
__________________________
Table 2 about here
__________________________
Overall, nearly two-thirds of the women said sex discrimination was at
least somewhat a problem for women journalists in general (See Table
2).
Almost 40 percent said discrimination had been at least somewhat a
problem
in their own careers in journalism, and one of every 10 women said sex
discrimination had been a significant or very serious problem for her.
__________________________
Table 3 about here
__________________________
As Table 3 shows, approximately one-fifth of the women felt they had been
passed over for promotion in favor of a less qualified man at least
once,
and more than 40 percent had been offered or had accepted a position
at a
salary lower than would have been offered an equally qualified man.
It's
interesting that nearly one-fourth of the women said they did not know
how
to answer this question; many noted that they strongly suspected they
had
been paid less than their male peers but could not be certain because
they
did not have access to salary information for other staff members.
Almost
27 percent of the respondents felt they had been denied a desirable
beat,
story or photo assignment at least once because they were women.
The survey respondents also were asked about instances in which they had
been given a position of greater responsibility on an acting or
interim
basis but then denied permanent assignment to the position. These
figures
are not included in the table because such occurrences were relatively
rare
among the respondents. Only 8 percent (18 women) had been denied permanent
assignment to such a position in favor of a less qualified man, and a few
more (21 -- 9.2 percent) had been forced to give up the position to a
man
they viewed as equally but not more qualified.
Table 3 also shows that women's experiences with discrimination in
promotions, pay, and beat, story or photo assignments appear to be related
to the size of the newspaper for which they currently work. The
relationships between circulation size and whether the woman had been
passed over for promotion in favor of a less qualified man or in favor of
an equally but not more qualified man approached significance
[Chi-square
(df=6) = 11.23, p. < .10, and chi-square (df=6) = 12.32, p. < .06,
respectively]; women from mid-sized and larger newspapers appeared to be
more likely to have had such experiences. Women from the largest
newspapers
were nearly twice as likely as those from the smallest newspapers to say
an equally qualified man had been promoted over them at least once.
Circulation size clearly was related to women's experiences with salary
discrimination. Nearly one-third of the women from the largest
newspapers
said they had been offered a position or hired for a position at a
salary
lower than would have been offered an equally qualified man, compared
to
only 17 percent of the women from the smallest newspapers.
__________________________
Table 4 about here
__________________________
Table 4 shows additional relationships between demographic characteristics
and women's reports of having been passed over for promotion in favor of
less qualified men. Women in the oldest age group, 41-74, were more
than
twice as likely as the 31- to 40-year-olds and more than three times
as
likely as the 23- to 30-year-olds to say they had been passed over for
promotion. Similarly, women with 15 or more years of experience were
more
than twice as likely as women with fewer years of experience to have
been
passed over in favor of a less qualified man. Both of these
relationships
may, to some extent, reflect a difference in opportunities; younger,
less
experienced women would not be expected to have had as many
opportunities
to be promoted -- or to be denied promotion -- as would more veteran
journalists.
The relationship between promotion experiences (or non-promotion
experiences) of women from differently populated newsrooms is not so
striking as the influence of age and experience, but the difference does
approach significance [chi-square (df=6) = 3.03, p. < .10]. Women in
the
middle group -- those whose newsroom staffs are approximately
one-third to
one-half female -- appear most likely to have been denied promotions
in
favor of less qualified men.
__________________________
Table 5 about here
__________________________
Table 5 shows similar kinds of trends in the percentages of women who
reported having been denied promotion in favor of men who were equally
but
not more qualified. Older women appear to be more likely to have had
such
experiences, although the relationship is not statistically
significant.
The relationship with years of experience is significant; women with
15 or
more years of experience were almost six times as likely as the least
experienced women to have been denied promotion in favor of an equally
qua
lified man. Again, this may reflect mostly a difference in
opportunities.
Women with five or fewer years of experience would not have had many
opportunities for promotion yet.
__________________________
Table 6 about here
__________________________
As Table 6 shows, veteran newswoman also were more likely than less
experienced women to have experienced salary discrimination at least once.
More than 50 percent of these veterans knew of at least once instance
in
which they had been paid less than similarly (or in many cases, less)
qualified men doing similar jobs, and an additional 24 percent were not
sure that they had never been paid less than male peers. Women who had
been
working as journalists for six to 14 years were almost as likely to have
experienced salary discrimination. Forty percent said that at least
once,
they had been offered a position or hired for a position at a salary
lower
than would have been offered a similarly qualified man, and more than
one
fifth of these women had had such experiences more than once. Even
among
the least experienced women, almost one-fourth had experienced salary
discrimination one time, and more than 10 percent had been paid less than
male peers more than once.
The proportion of the female population in the newsroom also was
significantly related to women's reports of salary discrimination. Not
surprisingly, women from the "most female" newsrooms -- those in which
more
than half the employees were women -- were least likely to say they had
been paid less than similarly qualified men. Even in these newsrooms,
however, more than one third of the women had experienced salary
discrimination, and in the "least female newsrooms" -- those in which fewer
than one-third of the employees were women -- more than 55 percent of the
women had experienced salary discrimination.
__________________________
Table 7 about here
__________________________
Somewhat surprisingly, job category appeared to be related to women's
experiences with discrimination. Reporters and photographers were less
likely than graphic artists, copy editors and more senior editors to
believe they had been passed over for promotion in favor of either equally
or less qualified men; this may indicate, however, that reporters and
photograhers were not as likely as editors to have sought promotions
within
their newsrooms. On the other hand, reporters and photographers were more
than twice as likely as journalists working primarily inside the
newsroom
to have been denied a beat, story or photo assignment due to their
gender.
This seems almost inevitable, given the wording of the question. In
fact,
it seems likely that most of the women who had been denied assignments
but
were not working as reporters or photographers at the time of the
survey
probably were reporting experiences they had had as reporters or
photographers earlier in their careers.
For an overall test of the relationship between individual or work
environment characteristics and women's experiences with discrimination, a
discrimination index was created by counting across all six of the
questions regarding specific types of discrimination. This index then was
divided into three categories, dividing women who had experienced no
type
of discrimination from those who had experienced one or two types or
those
who had experienced three to five types of discrimination.
Crosstabulations
then were conducted to determine whether scores on this index were
correlated with individual and work environment measures.
__________________________
Table 7 about here
__________________________
The results, presented in Table 8, reflect those revealed in analyses of
specific types of discrimination. Scores on the index were
significantly
related to both age and experience as a journalist [Chi-square (df=4)
=
12.07, p. < .02, and chi-square (df=4) 18.93, p. < .001, respectively].
Women in the middle age group (31-40 years old) were least likely to
have
escaped all types of discrimination, but women in the oldest group
(41-74
years old) were most likely to have experienced multiple types of
discrim
ination. Only about 5 percent of the youngest women had experienced
three
to five types of discrimination, compared to 17.9 percent of the
middle
group and nearly one-fourth of the oldest women.
Among women with 15 or more years of experience, less than one-third had
escaped all types of discrimination, and nearly one-third had
experienced
three to five types; they were more than three times as likely as
women in
either of the less experienced groups to have experienced three to
five
types of discrimination. As noted earlier, both age and experience may
be
related to discrimination primarily because both mean these women have
had
more opportunities to be discriminated against.
Regardless of their age, experience or work environments, however,
respondents' answers to the open-ended questions in their interviews reveal
enormous frustration with the discrimination they encounter. The number of
types of discrimination they report is enormous, from being paid less than
less talented, less experienced male co-workers to dealing with sources
who will return male colleagues' calls but not theirs to being given
authority in name but no upper-level backing when conflicts arise. One
woman from a small newspaper said the "overall situation" at her office
is
discriminatory.
My supervisor in the newsroom is incompetent. They keep him although
he is this way because they know the female assistant editor (me)
will
do all the work for both of us. I got to the point where I had a lot
of stress-related illness. So now I just live with the situation.
Until a year and a half ago, we had another editor between me and the
supervisor who picked up some of the work so it was tolerable.
But
when he left, they eliminated that position, and there was no
buffer
between me and the incompetent senior editor. The workload for me
became very uneven, and it got to the point that I was going in to
the
publisher continually, on a weekly basis, but nothing was ever done.
I started to feel I was nothing but a nuisance to him, and I
could see
no changes were being made. So I gave up. My husband has a good job
here, so we will never relocate, and there is no other paper for
me to
go to.
A news editor from a mid-sized Midwestern newspaper said she knows she has
been denied promotions because of her gender, although she cannot prove
sex discrimination.
There has been a general feeling here -- women come and go in the
newsroom much faster than men, and many women leaving talk about
being
denied stories or the best beats. Apparently when they uncover a
particularly interesting or big story on their beats, then it is
always turned over to a male reporter.
Newsroom discrimination now in my opinion is kind of an underground
thing. People are denied opportunities constantly. For women
editors,
it is a glass ceiling. You are never going to make it. To me, (it
seems) they just don't promote women here beyond a certain point.
In some cases, women face not only the glass ceiling but also the dangers
of corporate down-sizing. One woman from a Mid-Western newspaper said
that
her newspaper went through "restructuring" while she was working at a
copy
desk job she really liked. The restructuring eliminated some jobs, and
one
of the men whose job was eliminated was allowed to choose which of the
remaining jobs he wanted. He chose the copy editor's job. "I was given a
much less desirable (job)," she said. "I was not given any choice."
A number of women, like the editor quoted earlier, complained that women
are expected to "clean up" after incompetent male superiors or
co-workers.
A woman from a small Southeastern newspaper said her newspaper's
female
chief photographer
often has to do developing for a male photographer. He slacks off, and
she has to make up for the slack. She's complained, and they have
done nothing that I'm aware of. I don't think that would happen if
she
were a man.
Such dedication frequently doesn't win hard-working women any respect or
advancement. A copy editor from a mid-sized North Central U.S.
newspaper
said that while she was working for a smaller newspaper, the news
editor
and a copy editor left, and the newspaper hired a new man to be news
editor.
It became clear after only two weeks he was completely incompetent.
This other woman and I were doing his job. (He came to work, but
he
had no idea what to do.) He finally left. It was clear that
either of
us women had been doing the job for three months and either of us
could handle it. I indicated I was interested in applying for the
position, but it was clear that the male editor wasn't going to put
a
woman in management. He didn't think they belonged there. But of
course it took them a while to hire a new guy. We went half of
April,
All of May and June, and I finally left and went to my present
paper
shortly before they hired another incompetent guy, who lasted a
year.
At some newspapers, the discrimination is quite obvious, and salary
discrimination seems particularly problematic. Many women noted that
married women's salaries are assumed to be "supplemental," while men are
presumed to be "the breadwinner." For instance, a features editor
working
for a mid-sized New England newspaper reported that once, when she
asked
for a raise,
I was told by my boss that I really didn't need a raise because my
husband was a lawyer. If a man went in and asked for a raise, and
his
wife was a lawyer, they wouldn't have said to him, 'Well, you
don't
need it because your wife is a lawyer.'
A woman from another mid-sized New England newspaper reported an even less
subtle instance of discrimination from earlier in her career, at a
different newspaper. She had learned that a male co-worker "at the same
level" was being paid $70 more per week than she was.
When I found out, I marched in and complained, and I was told, 'Well,
he is a man.' I kept telling them, 'Who cares? I'm doing the same
work, and I want a raise.' But it wasn't until I threatened a
lawsuit
on them that they gave me the extra $70 a week, but then they
turned
around and gave him a $50 raise to put him above me again. The
worst
part was he was single and living with his mom, and I was
supporting
two kids.
The study's quantitative data do not show clearly whether women still are
discriminated against in terms of beat and story assignments, but the
interviews revealed that such discrimination definitely still occurs. A
reporter from a medium-sized Mid-Atlantic state newspaper said that at
her
newspaper, there never has been a female political reporter.
There is always a man. The assistant managing editor always puts that
person right by his desk, and he treats this person like a son.
That
is considered the plum beat here, and it is always given to men.
So, it appears, are most other positions of power at that newspaper. At her
paper, the woman said, there never has been a female managing editor,
assistant managing editor or city editor; there has been one female news
editor, "but that here is pretty low on the power scale."
Many women complained that story assignments, as well as beat assignments,
are distributed on the basis of gender, not talent or experience. One
woman from a small afternoon newspaper said that at her newspaper, "hard
news goes to men, light stuff to women."
A reporter from a large Western newspaper said one editor repeatedly
turned down her requests to work on aspects of the Rodney King beating
story. "He didn't want me to go out initially because it was 'too
dangerous,' where men were going out, and it wasn't too dangerous for them.
I'm perfectly physically fit."
The same reporter noted that at a previous newspaper, during Desert Storm,
they just automatically assigned men to anything that broke . . . Men
would get the bigger, better assignments, and women would get all
the
shit work. It was much easier to tell a woman that, sorry, you're
going to cover the city council while Chris over there covers the
Persian Gulf War.
Even within beats, women often are assumed to be less competent at some
types of stories than others. A recreation reporter from a mid-sized
Midwestern newspaper said that in her job, "there have been a lot of perks
that I've seen go by because of the good old boy system." Ironically,
she
said, she often is deemed capable of handling with "the so-called
brainier
stuff"
-- such as water quality or something dealing with the environment.
But if I go to report on inter-collegiate wrestling, or fishing, etc.,
then it is automatically assumed that I don't know anything, even
though I probably know twice as much about the sport as they do.
It is
just taken for granted that women know nothing about fishing,
rafting, etc.
Women's perceptions of pay, promotion and assignment equity.
The frustrations created by all of these types of discrimination were
reflected in women's responses to questions about pay, promotion and
assignment equity at their newspapers.
__________________________
Table 9 about here
__________________________
As Table 9 shows, the largest percentages of women felt that their
newspapers now distribute pay, promotions and assignments fairly, without
regard to gender. Nonetheless, nearly one-fourth said men were more
likely
than women to get the best story and job assignments, and nearly 40
percent
of the women believe men still are more likely than women to be promoted.
An even higher percentage, more than 42 percent, said that regardless
of
the job, men are paid better than women.
__________________________
Tables 10-12 about here
__________________________
As Tables 10-12 show, some individual and work environment characteristics
are related to perceptions of gender equity in the newsroom. Reporters and
photographers were significantly more likely than all other newswomen to
say that men are paid better than women (Table 10). Circulation size
was
related to respondents' beliefs about promotion equity, with women
from the
mid-sized newspapers least likely and women from small newspapers most
likely to say that men have better chances of being promoted than do
women
(See Table 11). As might be expected, the percentage of women in the
newsroom was related to respondents' beliefs that job, story and photo
assignments are distributed equitably. Women from the most
male-dominated
newsrooms (one-third or fewer female employees) were twice as likely
to say
men have better chances at the best assignments than women from newsrooms
in which one-third to one-half of the employees are female, and they
were
more than twice as likely than women from the least male-dominated
newsrooms to believe men have better chances at plum assignments.
__________________________
Tables 13-15 about here
__________________________
The last three tables show the distribution of respondents' answers to two
statements about fair treatment in the newsroom. Table 13 shows that,
despite their concerns, the majority of women agreed that "male and
female
employees are treated equally by managers in my workplace." Still,
more
than one-fourth of the women disagreed with that statement, and nearly
another 10 percent disagreed strongly.
As Table 14 shows, nearly two-thirds of the respondents agreed or strongly
agreed that "male employees treat women peers as equals" in their
newsrooms. More than one of every 10 women gave a neutral response, often
noting that the truth of the statement differed dramatically from one
male
employee to the next. More than one-fourth of the women either
disagreed or
strongly disagreed that their male co-workers treat them as equals.
Again, the proportion of female employees in the newsroom was related to
perceptions about male co-workers' attitudes and behaviors. Not
surprisingly, women from the most male-dominated newsrooms were least
likely to agree that their male peers treated them as equals, but in
newsrooms in which more than 50 percent of the employees were female,
almost three-fourths of the women agreed.
Discussion and Conclusions
The respondents included in this survey were randomly selected, so these
results should reflect fairly accurately the experiences and opinions
of
female journalists working at newspapers throughout the United States.
However, one significant concern arises from the fact that the surveys
have
taken a relatively long time to complete. Interviewing began during the
summer of 1993, and the last of the respondents whose data are
included in
this report were interviewed in February 1995. It's possible that
events
occurring during the intervening months may have increased the later
respondents' awareness of sexual harassment issues.
Another concern is the relatively large number of women who had left their
jobs at the sample newspapers by the time we attempted to contact them. We
have no way of knowing whether their experiences differed significantly
from those of the women we interviewed. It is quite possible, for
instance,
that problems with sex discrimination contributed to their decisions to
leave their newspapers, which would mean that our results
underestimate the
extent of sex discrimination newspaperwomen are encountering. Certainly
many of the comments we heard during the open-ended portion of the
interviews suggest that one of the most common ways women deal with sex
discrimination is to leave those jobs and look for others -- either in
other newspapers or sometimes outside journalism altogether -- where the
environment is more supportive and the rewards are more fairly
distributed.
Discussion
Despite these limitations, however, the results strongly suggest that sex
discrimination has been and continues to be a significant problem for
women
working in America's daily newspapers. Even though the largest percentages
of women said that in their current newsrooms, men and women are paid
equally, promoted equally and given equal chances at the best
assignments,
significant numbers of women obviously still feel discriminated
against by
their employers. Nearly one-fourth of women believe men have a better
chance at good job, story and photo assignments, almost 40 percent
believe
men have better chances of being promoted, and more than 40 percent
say men
are paid better than women in their newsrooms, even when their doing the
same jobs and have the same qualifications.
One of the most interesting, though perhaps not surprising, findings of
the study was that the proportion of female employees in the newsroom
seems
to affect women's perceptions of sex discrimination issues. Women in
male-dominated newsrooms were more likely to believe that men have an
unfair advantage when it comes to good beat, story and photo assignments,
and these women were least likely to say that male employees treat
women
peers as equals in their newsrooms. There seemed to be less difference
on
these questions between women in the middle-range and highest groups,
that
is, between women from newsrooms in which 34-50 percent of the
employees
are female and those from newsrooms in which more than 50 percent of
the
employees are women. However, women in the two male-dominated newsroom
types were more similar on the measure of experience with salary
discrimination. Only 21 percent of women from the newsrooms with the lowest
proportion of women believed they never had experienced salary
discrimination, and about 28 percent of those from the middle group
believed they had been paid equally to men. But among women from newsrooms
with more than 50 percent female employees, nearly 41 percent
expressed
confidence that they had not experienced salary discrimination. These
results suggest that there may be some sort of "critical mass" of women
necessary either to reduce discrimination or at least to reduce the
perception that discrimination exists.
Another recurring theme throughout the results has been the relationship
between various types of discrimination and respondents' ages and
years of
experience. In general, older, more experienced women were more likely
to
report having all types of discrimination experiences. It isn't clear,
however, whether we should count this as good news or bad news. These
findings could indicate that discrimination, for the most part, is a
thing
of the past; certainly many women who've been working journalists for
15
years commented in the open-ended interviews that their opportunities
had
improved considerably over the course of their careers.
On the other hand, it's also possible that these findings simply mean that
if women stay in journalism long enough, they will experience
discrimination in some form. A number of women noted during their
interviews that women seem to face a "glass ceiling" at their newspapers,
suggesting that women may be as likely as equally talented men to be
promoted -- but only to a point. The demographic characteristics of our
sample certainly suggest that most women journalists remain at the
lower
levels -- only about 6 percent of our respondents were city editors,
assistant city editors, managing editors or assistant managing editors.
Another 6 percent described themselves as "editors," but it isn't clear
in
all cases whether these women held top editor or executive editor
positions. Some may have been copy editors, and in any case, nine of the 14
women who gave their titles as "editor" were from the smallest newspapers,
those with circulations less than 25,000.
The costs of these discriminatory practices seem obvious. First, there is
the cost of employee turnover, as women who've been paid less, passed
over
for promotion or who've watched the "plum" assignments go to men time
after
time find new jobs, either at different newspapers or outside journalism.
From their recent meta-analysis of studies of job stress among
journalists,
Cook and Banks (1994) concluded that there is a strong relationship
between job stress and burnout and between job burnout and intention to
leave the profession. Sex discrimination may be only one source of job
stress for women journalists, but it's an additional stress. Female
journalists already face the same stresses male journalists face, and that
one additional burden may be enough, in some cases, to send highly
competent, top-performing women looking for somewhere else to work. Second,
among the women who stay, discouragement and the stress related to
discrimination may lead to lowered productivity, lower morale and higher
health and absenteeism costs due to stress-related illnesses.
But the most important cost clearly is the loss of women's talents in the
areas where they could contribute the most. Newspaper managers holding
some
of their most talented, experienced and hard-working employees in the
lower job ranks simply because those employees are not men are like
restaurant managers who would keep their most talented, highly trained
chefs working as dishwashers simply because they aren't French; in both
cases, the customer receives a poorer product than he or she might have
enjoyed.
And the problem compounds itself, according to many of our respondents.
Because few newspapers have women in positions of power, fewer
newspapers
are likely to hire the most competent women to fill lower-level
positions
and ultimately to move up through the ranks successfully. For
instance, one
news editor from a mid-sized Mid-Western paper said male managers at her
newspaper do not hire the same kinds of women female managers would
hire.
They are not hiring assertive, strong women. They are not hiring the
same qualities in women they would hire in a man, so then when
the
woman doesn't work out, they can say, 'Oh,we had a woman in that
job,
and it didn't work.' Interestingly enough, all the strong,
competent
women we have were all hired by a woman who has since (left the
newspaper). They all came through the _______ department and then
moved on to other jobs around the paper. But the ones the men hire
in
are always more timid, less assertive. This kind of
discrimination is
so underground that it goes back to who they hire, which is
non-threatening women. Being non-threatening and timid is not
necessarily the best quality for certain jobs.
Taken together, the costs of lost or burned-out employees, wasted talent
and, in some cases, the legal fees and other costs associated with sex
discrimination lawsuits must be formidable, albeit difficult to measure
directly. As newsroom budgets continue to tighten, it seems more and
more
obvious that sex discrimination should be a cost newspapers no longer
can
afford.
Table 1: Age, years of experience, number and gender of newsroom employees
and supervisors and other demographic characteristics among women at U.S.
daily newspapers
Mean
Small Medium Large Total
(n) (105) (75) (47) (227)
Age 36.4 39.4 41.4 38.4
Years as a journalist 8.3 12.9 17.1 11.6
Estimated number of
newsroom employees 14.9 55.3 184.3 61.2
Percentage of female
newsroom employees 48.6 45.7 43.3 46.6
______________________________________________________________________________
______
Percent
Women whose immediate supervisor
is:
Male 70.5 65.3 61.7 67.0
Female 28.6 30.7 36.2 30.8
One or more of each 0.9 4.0 2.1 2.2
Working at unionized
newspapers (all or some
newsroom employees) 3.8 28.0 89.4 29.5
Other personal characteristics
Marital status
Never married 44.8 40.0 57.4 41.0
Married 44.8 45.3 34.0 47.6
Divorced 9.5 10.7 6.4 9.3
Other 0.9 4.0 2.1 2.2
Table 2: Women's descriptions of sex discrimination as a problem for women as
newspaper journalists and for their own careers
How much of a problem is sex discrimination
for women as newspaper journalists?
Percent
No problem at all 7.1
Not much of a problem 29.2
Somewhat a problem 47.8
A significant problem 13.7
A very serious problem 2.2
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
How much of a problem has sex discrimination
been for the respondent as a journalist?
Percent
No problem at all 26.4
Not much of a problem 36.6
Somewhat a problem 26.0
A significant problem 9.3
A very serious problem 1.8
Table 3: Women's experiences with sex discrimination, by newspaper
circulation size
Passed over for promotion
by less qualified man Percent
Small Medium Large Total
(n) (105) (75) (47) (227)
Never 84.8 73.3 74.5 78.9
Once 12.4 17.3 10.6 13.7
More than once 2.9 9.3 12.8 7.0
Don't know 0.0 0.0 2.1 0.4
Chi-square (df=6) = 11.23, p. < .10.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Passed over for promotion
by equal, but not more
qualified man Percent
Small Medium Large Total
(n) (105) (75) (47) (227)
Never 85.7 78.7 72.3 80.6
Once 13.3 13.3 17.0 14.1
More than once 1.0 5.3 10.6 4.4
Don't know 0.0 2.7 0.0 0.9
Chi-square (df=6) = 12.32, p. < .06.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Offered or hired at
lower salary than
equally qualified man Percent
Small Medium Large Total
(n) (105) (75) (47) (227)
Never 41.0 32.0 17.0 33.0
Once 21.9 17.3 14.9 18.9
More than once 17.1 28.0 31.9 23.8
Don't know 20.0 22.7 36.2 24.2
Chi-square (df=6) = 14.09, p. < .05.
Table 3: (continued) Women's experiences with sex discrimination, by
newspaper circulation size
Denied assignment
because of gender Percent
Small Medium Large Total
(n) (105) (75) (47) (227)
Never 76.2 65.3 57.4 68.7
Once 5.7 8.0 8.5 7.0
More than once 17.1 21.3 23.4 19.8
Don't know 1.0 5.3 10.6 4.4
______________________________________________________________________________
______
Note: Newspaper size was not significantly related to respondents' likelihood
of having been denied an assignment because of their gender.
Table 4: Percentages of women who have been passed over for promotion by less
qualified man, by age, years of experience and percentage of women in the
newsroom
Age
23-30 31-40 41-74
(n) (61) (75) (86)
Never 90.2 83.3 67.4
Once 8.2 11.5 19.8
More than once 1.6 3.8* 12.8
Chi-square (df=6) = 16.47, p. < .02
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Years of Experience as a Journalist
5 years 6-14 15 or more
or less years years
(n) (71) (79) (74)
Never 87.3 87.8 60.8
Once 11.3 9.8 20.3
More than once 1.4 1.2* 6.2
Chi-square (df=6) = 31.83, p. < .0001
______________________________________________________________________
Percent of Newsroom Employees Who Are Women
up to 1 third more than
1 third to 1 half 1 half
(n) (47) (58) (115)
Never 85.1 70.7 80.9
Once 12.8 22.4 9.6
More than once 2.1 6.9 9.6
Chi-square (df=6) = 3.03, p. < .10.
______________________________________________________________________
Note: *Numbers in these columns do not add to 100 percent because of missing
data from some respondents. Other columns may not add to 100 due to
rounding.
A cross-tabulation was conducted to determine whether the effect of age
held
when controlling for the effect of years of experience, but the result
produced cell sizes too small for reliable analysis.
Table 5: Percentages of women who have been passed over for promotion by
equally but not more qualified man, by age and years of experience
Age
23-30 31-40 41-74
(n) (61) (75) (83)
Never 91.8 82.1 72.1
Once 4.9 14.1 20.9
More than once 3.3 2.6* 5.8*
Chi-square (df=6) = 10.11, not significant
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Years of Experience as a Journalist
5 years 6-14 15 or more
or less years years
(n) (68) (79) (74)
Never 93.0 78.0 71.6
Once 4.2 18.3 18.9
More than once 1.4 2.4 9.5
Chi-square (df=6) = 16.74, p. < .01
______________________________________________________________________
Note: *Numbers in these columns do not add to 100 percent because of missing
data from some respondents. Other columns may total more than 100 percent
due
to rounding. A cross-tabulation was conducted to determine whether the
effect
of age held when controlling for the effect of years of experience, but
the
result produced cell sizes too small for reliable analysis.
Table 6: Percentages of women experiencing salary discrimination*, by years
of experience and percentage of women in the newsroom
Years of Experience as a Journalist
5 years 6-14 15 or more
or less years years
(n) (71) (82) (74)
Never 35.2 39.0 24.3
Once 23.9 18.3 14.9
More than once 12.7 22.0 36.5
Don't know 28.2 20.7 24.3
Chi-square (df=6) = 13.98, p. < .05
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent of Newsroom Employees Who Are Women
up to 1 third more than
1 third to 1 half 1 half
(n) (47) (58) (115)
Never 21.3 27.6 40.9
Once 38.3 17.2 13.0
More than once 17.0 32.8 20.9
Don't know 23.4 22.4 25.2
Chi-square (df=6) = 19.17, p. < .01
______________________________________________________________________________
______
Note: *Women were asked how often they had been offered a position or hired
for a position at a salary less than would have been offered a man with
similar abilities and experience.
Table 7: Percentages of women passed over for promotion by less qualified and
by equally qualified men and denied assignment due to gender, by job
category
Passed over by Job Category
less qualified man
Reporters All
& photographers other jobs
(n) (99) (120)
Never 84.8 73.3
Once 10.1 16.7
More than once 4.0* 10.0
Chi-square (df=3) = 6.47, p. < .10
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Job Category
Passed over by equally
but not more Reporters All
qualified man & photographers other jobs
(n) (99) (120)
Never 88.9 74.2
Once 7.1 19.2
More than once 2.0* 6.7
Chi-square (df=3) = 12.24, p. < .01
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Job Category
Denied assignment to beat,
story or photo Reporters All
due to gender & photographers other jobs
(n) (99) (120)
Never 61.6 74.2
Once 5.1 9.2
More than once 28.3 12.5
Don't know 5.1 4.2
Chi-square (df=3) = 9.48, p. < .05.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Note:*Numbers in this column do not add to 100 percent because of missing
data from some respondents. Other columns may not add to 100 percent due
to
rounding.
Table 8: Number of discriminatory experiences women have had, by age and
years of experience
Age
23-30 31-40 41-74
(n) (61) (78) (86)
No discrimination 49.2 32.1 37.2
1-2 instances 45.9 50.0 38.4
3-5 instances 4.9 17.9 24.4
Chi-square (df=4) = 12.07, p. < .02.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Years of Experience as a Journalist
5 years 6-14 15 or more
or less years years
(n) (71) (82) (74)
No discrimination 49.3 35.4 32.4
1-2 instances 39.4 54.9 36.5
3-5 instances 11.3 9.8 31.1
Chi-square (df=4) = 18.93, p. < .001
______________________________________________________________________________
________
Note: Number of instances of discrimination was determined by counting across
respondents' answers to the six questions listed under "experiences with
sex
discrimination" in methods section of this paper.
Table 9: Women's perceptions of equity in pay, promotions and assignments in
their newsrooms
Percent
Pay Equity
Men are paid better 42.2
Women are paid better 0.5
Men & women paid equally 44.0
Don't know 9.2
Promotion Equity
Men more likely to be promoted 38.9
Women more likely to
be promoted 5.3
Men & women equally likely
to be promoted 55.3
Don't know 0.4
Assignment Equity
Men more likely to get good
assignments 24.5
Women more likely to get good
assignments 1.4
Men & women equally likely to
get good assignments 73.2
Don't know 1.7
Table 10: Women's perceptions of pay equity in their newsrooms, by job
category
Job Category
Reporters & All
Photographers other jobs
(n) (98) (120)
Men are paid better 45.9 39.2
Women are paid better 1.0 0.0
Men & women paid equally 34.7 51.7
Don't know 18.4 9.2
Chi-square (df=3) = 8.77, p. < .05.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
Table 11: Women's perceptions of promotion equity in their newsrooms, by
newspaper circulation size
Small Medium Large
(n) (104) (75) (47)
Men more likely to be
promoted 46.2 29.3 38.3
Women more likely to
be promoted 1.0 8.0 10.6
Men & women equally
likely to be promoted 52.9 61.3* 51.1
Chi-square (df=6) = 13.18, p. < .05.
______________________________________________________________________________
______
Note:*Numbers in this column do not add to 100 due to missing data from some
respondents. Other columns may not add to 100 due to rounding.
Table 12: Women's perceptions of equity in assignments in their newsrooms, by
percentage of female employees
Percent of Newsroom Employees Who Are Women
up to 1 third more than
1 third to 1 half 1 half
(n) (47) (58) (115)
Men more likely to get
good assignments 44.7 22.4 17.4
Women more likely to get
good assignments 0.0 1.7 1.7
Men & women equally likely
to get good assignments 55.3 75.9 79.1*
Chi-square (df=6) = 15.57, p. < .02.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:*Numbers in this column do not add to 100 due to missing data from some
respondents.
______________________________________________________________________________
______
Table 13: Beliefs that respondent's managers treat male and female employees
equally.
Percent
Strongly agree 15.4
Agree 44.1
Neutral 6.2
Disagree 25.1
Strongly disagree 9.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Table 14: Beliefs that male employees treat women peers as equals in
respondent's workplace
Percent
Strongly agree 11.5
Agree 51.5
Neutral 11.0
Disagree 20.3
Strongly disagree 5.7
Table 15: Beliefs that male employees treat women peers as equals in
respondent's workplace, by percentage of women in newsroom
Percent of Newsroom Employees Who Are Women
up to 1 third more than
1 third to 1 half 1 half
(n) (47) (58) (115)
Strongly agree/agree 48.9 53.4 73.9
Neutral 12.8 19.0 5.2
Disagree/strongly
disagree 38.3 27.6 20.9
Chi-square (df=4) = 15.64, p. < .01.
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[1] 1Because we wished to complete the survey within
groups (small, medium
and large), we delayed mailing the study
description letters to women until
we were ready to begin interviewing women
from that group. Women from
small newspapers began receiving le
tters during the summer of 1993. Due to
difficulties mustering e
nough volunteers to complete the interviews, we
were unable to b
egin surveying women from the mid-sized and larger
newspapers un
til the Spring of 1994.
[2] 2When Editor and Publisher ran a brief advance st
ory about the
commencement of the study, we received letters and
some phone calls from
women journalists volunteering to be inte
rviewed about their own
experiences with discrimination and sexu
al harassment; all had to be
declined to preserve the sample's v
alidity. Two women who had worked for
the San Jose Mercury News
for 17 and 14 years wrote, "Not only will we
participate in your
study, but you are free to use our names and the
newspaper...We
both feel that we would do a disservice to future
professional
women by not warning them about the job and wage
discrimination th
at goes on at this newspaper" (San Jose Mercury News
corresponde
nce, July 13, 1994).
[3] 3Some of these women may have been copy editors rath
er than the
highest-ranking editor on the staff.
[4] 4The women
were asked "What is your marital status?" and were not given
answer choices
. It is possible that some of those who reported their
status as
"single" had been married and divorced. Those who gave their
st
atus as "other" usually were living with a steady partner, either male or
fe
male.
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