Naomi Girson | staff writer

Cokie Roberts, a telejournalist, and ‘founding mother’ of NPR, faced harassment and gender disparity but was able to rise above and succeed beyond, despite the men around her trying to take advantage and drag her down.

Roberts was once in a conference with a male coworker who rested his hand on her leg, so she picked it up, put it on the table and said “I think this belongs to you.”

Women like Roberts saw changes in the workplace as the effects of the addition of ‘sex’ to Title VII in the 1964 Civil Rights Act trickled down to allow women to take action whenever a man put a hand on their knee.

Women in journalism are in a much better place now in 2024 than they ever have been in no small part thanks to the bravery of women like Roberts who were able to fight against discrimination and harassment. But the standard is still nowhere near where it should be.
According to Digital Content Next, surveying 120 nations, women only account for 41.7% of newsroom employees, only produce 37% of reports, write 40% of online news, and 37% of news anchors are women.

Journalism is a hard field to break into. There are high standards, constantly changing expectations and quick turnarounds for the most important news-breaking stories. Anyone approaching it for the first time is going to run into trouble. But being a woman can exacerbate those problems.

According to Maggie Patterson, a professor of journalism at Duquesne University, Nellie Bly was one of the first women to break into the field and make a name for herself doing it.

Bly was a journalist starting in the late 1800s, using her passion for feminism and ‘non-traditional’ women’s perspectives to break into the Pittsburgh Dispatch, a popular newspaper at the time.

Though she was writing consistently, she became frustrated with the limitations she had as a woman in the industry. It was not enough for her to do what she was asked.

Bly had to pretend to be mentally ill to gain traction as an investigative reporter, setting her apart from any women in the media at the time. She was an investigative reporter who was able to use her tenacity to write hard-hitting exposés and travel the world in a record-breaking 72 days.

Patterson, who experienced sexism in journalism working for The Pittsburgh Press starting in the late ‘60s, has a lot of respect for those who came both before and after her in the media world.

Patterson said she was young and naive when starting out. The expectations of the line of work were different, they were all writing for the women’s section — writing stories for each other. As her career continued, Pittsburgh entered a second wave of feminism, and women were put on new beats, writing for all readers, not just each other.

As these women in journalism were receiving more news stories and responsibility, a dichotomy arose, forcing them to choose between a family or their career. They had to make the hard decision.

Journalists first, homemaker second.

More doors opened, in some ways, but restrictions were put on these women in other ways. Women couldn’t use the front door, and lunch at restaurants was an all-men ordeal, after all, they had important business that could not be interrupted by women.

Patterson said that she found out that she was getting paid $15 less an hour than a male cohort that had less experience and leadership.

In each generation, the path gets slightly cleaner and easier to walk, but there are still problems today. Women journalists receive more verbal and online attacks and harassment than male journalists according to the International Press Institute, in their 2023 study.

Shelby Cassesse, sports anchor for WPXI and Duquesne alumna, is painfully aware of the disparity, counting the number of women in any press box, or locker room she finds herself in.

“I am very routinely one of a handful of women in any situation,” Cassesse said.

Cassesse has been in her field for about nine years, and since she has started she has noticed an upswing in the number of women in her industry.

She said that the other women she knows and sees in the field have a similar understanding. They are always intrinsically aware of the ratio, thinking — are there more women here today? — And having that small victory with each other on days when more women are at the lunch table.

“It is not where it needs to be in 2024,” Cassesse said. “I wish we could be the norm at this point.”

She admits that we have come a long way, and gives kudos to the supportive men in the industry who see, understand and try to change the standards.

For Cassesse, it was hard to become a sports anchor in Pittsburgh, not because she is a woman, but because it is incredibly competitive, with limited and seemingly dwindling resources.

In sports media, Cassesse said there is going to be a color analyst [male], a play-by-play announcer [male], and a sideline reporter [female]. She said this is good, but wants to see women in all positions available in sports journalism.

Boundaries have been crossed, but now new borders are being put up, still framing women journalists in a certain role, not just any role.

Hopefully, one day, women will feel as though they belong in the newsroom the way that men have for centuries.

Perhaps one day the biggest problem for journalists will be competing for stories, not because of gender, but because too many people were inspired to be in the journalism field.