While doing a research project on Susan Faludi, a contemporary feminist journalist, I came across a book titled "The Radical Women's Press of the 1850s." While reading it, I saw that women have been writing about women's rights in the U.S. for well over a century. I was curious about other women who tried to change things through journalistic expression and by starting their own publications. From "The Una" newspaper in the 1850s to "Ms." magazine in the 1970s, feminists have been using the print media to voice their opinions and elicit social change for women and other oppressed people for quite a long time.
Right now, women make up only 34 percent of the news-editorial workforce in the U.S., according to the International Women's Media Foundation. Women journalists in Washington, D.C., with the same experience and background as their male peers, are only paid an average of 50 to 70 percent of men's wages, according to the Association of Women Journalists. Many studies show that female journalists experience more stress and discrimination on the job than males. With numbers like these, it is clear that more women need to enter the journalistic field and demand equality in reporting, salary, and treatment. In the future, hopefully journalism will be a field that will attract more females, who will use writing as an agent for social change, and help in the struggle for women's equality.
This project is geared towards elementary-school girls, yet it can be useful to anyone. Because I focus on the history of female journalists, I thought it could be used in classes during Women's History Month in March, but it can obviously be used any time of the year. Because of my original intent, it is arranged in a calendar form, with a biography of one woman for each day of the month. It is obviously just a small sampling of the many female journalists, but there are lots of books available that provide more detail on each woman, and tell the stories of many more. Besides simply learning about women who worked or are working for social change, each biography has suggestions as to how young girls can do things like their foremothers did. Ambitions are formed at a very young age -- I think it is useful for girls to know what women have done, and are doing, to help women and other groups achieve equal rights. Because writing and publishing are effective ways to get one's viewpoint out to many people, hopefully young girls will realize that they too can use the media (now, and when they grow up) as a tool for righting social injustices, or for simply getting the public to listen to them. By studying women journalists and their accomplishments, they will realize that their opinions and views are equally valid and important, and deserve recognition. Hopefully, they will learn that it's OK to speak out in class, and that females have a right to be heard.