Newsweek writers go public with sexism at the magazine
source: http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/03/22/newsweek_sexism_female_editors/index.html
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Three plucky Newsweek writers have called out their employer for sexism -- in the magazine's own pages, no less. In a lengthy feature article, Jessica Bennett, Jesse Ellison and Sarah Ball take a look back at a groundbreaking gender-discrimination lawsuit filed by 46 female Newsweek employees in 1970 and consider "just how much has changed, and how much hasn't" since then, ultimately as a means of talking about the subtler sexism that persist in the work world at large.
While women may no longer be told outright, as they once were, that they aren't allowed to write for Newsweek, a subtler sexism still persists, they argue. The trio writes:
"[M]en wrote all but six of NEWSWEEK's 49 cover stories last year -- and two of those used the headline "The Thinking Man." In 1970, 25 percent of NEWSWEEK's editorial masthead was female; today that number is 39 percent. Better? Yes. But it's hardly equality."
Newsweek may have a female managing director who climbed the ranks at the magazine, "but just as the first black president hasn't wiped out racism," they argue, "a female at the top of a company doesn't eradicate sexism." And in a "highly sexualized, post-PC world, navigating gender roles at work is more confusing than ever." They write:
"The sad truth is that when we do see women rise to the top, we wonder: was it purely their abilities, or did it have something to do with their looks? If a man takes an interest in our work, we can't help but think about the male superior who advised "using our sexuality" to get ahead, or the manager who winkingly asked one of us, apropos of nothing, to "bake me cookies.""
Bold move in calling them out.
More @ link
While women may no longer be told outright, as they once were, that they aren't allowed to write for Newsweek, a subtler sexism still persists, they argue. The trio writes:
"[M]en wrote all but six of NEWSWEEK's 49 cover stories last year -- and two of those used the headline "The Thinking Man." In 1970, 25 percent of NEWSWEEK's editorial masthead was female; today that number is 39 percent. Better? Yes. But it's hardly equality."
Newsweek may have a female managing director who climbed the ranks at the magazine, "but just as the first black president hasn't wiped out racism," they argue, "a female at the top of a company doesn't eradicate sexism." And in a "highly sexualized, post-PC world, navigating gender roles at work is more confusing than ever." They write:
"The sad truth is that when we do see women rise to the top, we wonder: was it purely their abilities, or did it have something to do with their looks? If a man takes an interest in our work, we can't help but think about the male superior who advised "using our sexuality" to get ahead, or the manager who winkingly asked one of us, apropos of nothing, to "bake me cookies.""
Bold move in calling them out.
More @ link
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