Status
Available
Publication
PublicAffairs (2016), Edition: Media Tie In, 304 pages
Description
Politics. Nonfiction. HTML: It was the 1960s––a time of economic boom and social strife. Young women poured into the workplace, but the "Help Wanted" ads were segregated by gender and the "Mad Men" office culture was rife with sexual stereotyping and discrimination. Lynn Povich was one of the lucky ones, landing a job at Newsweek, renowned for its cutting-edge coverage of civil rights and the "Swinging Sixties." Nora Ephron, Jane Bryant Quinn, Ellen Goodman, and Susan Brownmiller all started there as well. It was a top-notch job––for a girl––at an exciting place. But it was a dead end. Women researchers sometimes became reporters, rarely writers, and never editors. Any aspiring female journalist was told, "If you want to be a writer, go somewhere else." On March 16, 1970, the day Newsweek published a cover story on the fledgling feminist movement entitled "Women in Revolt," forty-six Newsweek women charged the magazine with discrimination in hiring and promotion. It was the first female class action lawsuit––the first by women journalists––and it inspired other women in the media to quickly follow suit. Lynn Povich was one of the ringleaders. In The Good Girls Revolt, she evocatively tells the story of this dramatic turning point through the lives of several participants. With warmth, humor, and perspective, she shows how personal experiences and cultural shifts led a group of well-mannered, largely apolitical women, raised in the 1940s and 1950s, to challenge their bosses––and what happened after they did. For many, filing the suit was a radicalizing act that empowered them to "find themselves" and fight back. Others lost their way amid opportunities, pressures, discouragements, and hostilities they weren't prepared to navigate. The Good Girls Revolt also explores why changes in the law didn't solve everything. Through the lives of young female journalists at Newsweek today, Lynn Povich shows what has––and hasn't––changed in the workplace..… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member rosalita
This book requires us to hop into the Wayback Machine. Believe it or not, in the 1960s weekly newsmagazines like Time and Newsweek had very definite ideas on the proper place for women: the research department. (Another "believe it or not" factoid is that weekly newsmagazines were a big deal back
The author of The Good Girls Revolt was one of those researcher-reporters at Newsweek. Even after some of her female colleagues starting meeting and talking about what they could do to convince the magazine's publisher to give women a chance to write, she was conflicted. She had gotten the job through connections of her famous father, Shirley Povich, a legendary sportswriter for the Washington Post, which also owned Newsweek . (She's also the sister of the perhaps more famous but less respected Maury Povich, trashy TV talk show host, but he's barely mentioned.) Eventually she signed on, and the group of women hired a lawyer and confronted Newsweek management. Their first attempt in 1970 failed when management agreed to their demands and then just ... didn't do any of the things they promised. It took a second complaint and lawsuit in 1974 before changes were reluctantly made.
I was a little too young to remember this happening (I was 10 when they filed their second lawsuit) but it wasn't many years after that I realized I wanted to be a journalist, and a sportswriter to boot. Female sportswriters were thin on the ground in those days and it was a legitimate question whether that was even a practical career goal to have. All through junior high and high school I scoured every newspaper and magazine that I read, looking for female names in the bylines to reassure me that my dream was possible. Many of those names might not have been there for me to find without the actions taken by the "good girls" at Newsweek and others at other publications who followed in their footsteps.
The author researched, reported, and eventually wrote for Newsweek for many years, and it shows in the writing here. This is not poetry in prose form. It is written like a really long newsmagazine article (one of the fascinating parts of the book for me was Povich's detailing of the rigid "newsmagazine" style of writing and how challenging it could be to even good writers). But it's clear and well-organized, and it covers the topic really well. The final section revisits the key figures on both sides to see how the action affected them personally and professionally. It was not all sunshine and lollipops even for the women who ended up on the right side of history.
The only downside to reading this book is realizing that we've come a long way, baby, but we've sure got a long way to go. Women in 2017 can be acclaimed writers and reporters at magazines and newspapers and television stations — and face unimaginable vitriol online, including threats of death and sexual violence; criticisms that don't get leveled at their male counterparts. Still, they persevere, as the good girls of Newsweek did, and I salute them.
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then, which seems preposterous nowadays, but I digress.) Women were allowed to fact-check the writing that the big boys did, and sometimes they could even do some reporting (that is to say, researching facts and people and perhaps conducting interviews; all that information would then be handed over to the man who would actually write the article). Sexism, of course, is nothing new. But I think it's easy to forget how unthinkingly it was accepted, by both men and women, until the rise of Second Wave Feminism opened some eyes.The author of The Good Girls Revolt was one of those researcher-reporters at Newsweek. Even after some of her female colleagues starting meeting and talking about what they could do to convince the magazine's publisher to give women a chance to write, she was conflicted. She had gotten the job through connections of her famous father, Shirley Povich, a legendary sportswriter for the Washington Post, which also owned Newsweek . (She's also the sister of the perhaps more famous but less respected Maury Povich, trashy TV talk show host, but he's barely mentioned.) Eventually she signed on, and the group of women hired a lawyer and confronted Newsweek management. Their first attempt in 1970 failed when management agreed to their demands and then just ... didn't do any of the things they promised. It took a second complaint and lawsuit in 1974 before changes were reluctantly made.
I was a little too young to remember this happening (I was 10 when they filed their second lawsuit) but it wasn't many years after that I realized I wanted to be a journalist, and a sportswriter to boot. Female sportswriters were thin on the ground in those days and it was a legitimate question whether that was even a practical career goal to have. All through junior high and high school I scoured every newspaper and magazine that I read, looking for female names in the bylines to reassure me that my dream was possible. Many of those names might not have been there for me to find without the actions taken by the "good girls" at Newsweek and others at other publications who followed in their footsteps.
The author researched, reported, and eventually wrote for Newsweek for many years, and it shows in the writing here. This is not poetry in prose form. It is written like a really long newsmagazine article (one of the fascinating parts of the book for me was Povich's detailing of the rigid "newsmagazine" style of writing and how challenging it could be to even good writers). But it's clear and well-organized, and it covers the topic really well. The final section revisits the key figures on both sides to see how the action affected them personally and professionally. It was not all sunshine and lollipops even for the women who ended up on the right side of history.
The only downside to reading this book is realizing that we've come a long way, baby, but we've sure got a long way to go. Women in 2017 can be acclaimed writers and reporters at magazines and newspapers and television stations — and face unimaginable vitriol online, including threats of death and sexual violence; criticisms that don't get leveled at their male counterparts. Still, they persevere, as the good girls of Newsweek did, and I salute them.
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LibraryThing member JGoto
Lynn Povich's The Good Girls Revolt chronicles the discrimination lawsuit that female employees waged against Newsweek Magazine in the 1970's, paving the way for equal employment opportunities and pay for women in the news media field throughout the United States. Povich draws the reader in right
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from the prologue, where she introduces us to three women working at Newsweek in 2007, who can't seem to get ahead. They are filled with self-doubt, but it slowly dawns on them that there is a sexist bias at their magazine. With a little research, they discover that there was a huge class action suit in the 70's to fight sexism at the magazine. Provich then takes us back three decades, to the days when female ivy league graduates were hired as (and remained) fact checkers, whereas their male counterparts moved up the ranks and became reporters, writers, and editors. She talks about the mindset of the day, which made the women hesitate to make the waves and take the risks necessary in order to make a difference in the attitudes of the powerbrokers at the magazine.The history of the lawsuit is fascinating, and is filled with details about the many women who participated. Povich is so thorough in her attention to detail and to giving credit where it is due, that I sometimes had difficulty keeping track of each of the many players. All in all, however, I think that The Good Girls Revolt is an important contribution to the history of the feminist movement in our country. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookchickdi
My sons like to tease me and call me a feminist (yeah, they don't get it), a badge I proudly wear, so I was surprised that I knew nothing about the revolt by the women working at Newsweek magazine, who in 1970 brought a complaint to the EEOC against the magazine charging discrimination against them
Lynn Povich, a writer who worked at Newsweek and was part of the suit, brings the story to life in The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women at Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace. The women were employed at the magazine as researchers, but were never promoted to writer or editor, even though they had similar education and experience as the men hired as researchers and quickly promoted to writer and editor.
Nora Ephron, who worked at the magazine, described the "caste system"
"For every man there was an inferior woman, for every writer there was a checker", said Nora Ephron. "They were the artists and we were the drones. But what is interesting is how institutionally sexist it was without necessarily being personally sexist. To me, it wasn't oppressive. They were going to try to sleep with you- and if you wanted to, you could. But no one was going to fire you for not sleeping with them."
Mad Men's Madison Avenue offices weren't the only places where sex and booze ruled the workplace.
Povich is an excellent writer, and parts of this book, especially where the women were secretly meeting and trying to recruit other women to join the suit, read like a tense spy novel. Will they get caught?
They hired a young and pregnant Eleanor Holmes Norton to represent them. "The editors, who had supported the struggle for civil rights, were completely baffled by this pregnant black woman who questioned their commitment to equality."
The male editors, some of whom seemed like great guys, just didn't get it. What was worse in many of the women's eyes, was that Katherine Graham, who owned The Washington Post and Newsweek, didn't get it either. There is a powerful scene where Graham meets with the women and appears baffled by their action.
Along with the historical context of this story, I enjoyed reading about the inner workings of the magazine. We had a subscription for many years, and I always turned to read Anna Quindlen's back page column first. I had no idea that the struggle for equality there was so recent.
I recognized so many names in this book- Qunidlen, Ephron, Eleanor Clift, Jane Bryant Quinn and Maureen Orth among them. But it is the names that I didn't know, they are the important names, the ones who laid it all on the line so that the above mentioned women would be well known. Women like Povich, Pat Lynden and Lucy Howard paved the way for the other women with this lawsuit.
This book is essential reading for all young women starting out in the workplace. They must know who fought the battles for them so that they have the opportunities now available to them. The women of Newsweek are heroes, and I think that this book would be perfect for a high school or college journalism curriculum. I was also lucky enough to meet Ms. Povich at this year's Book Expo America, a true honor.
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in hiring and promotion practices.Lynn Povich, a writer who worked at Newsweek and was part of the suit, brings the story to life in The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women at Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace. The women were employed at the magazine as researchers, but were never promoted to writer or editor, even though they had similar education and experience as the men hired as researchers and quickly promoted to writer and editor.
Nora Ephron, who worked at the magazine, described the "caste system"
"For every man there was an inferior woman, for every writer there was a checker", said Nora Ephron. "They were the artists and we were the drones. But what is interesting is how institutionally sexist it was without necessarily being personally sexist. To me, it wasn't oppressive. They were going to try to sleep with you- and if you wanted to, you could. But no one was going to fire you for not sleeping with them."
Mad Men's Madison Avenue offices weren't the only places where sex and booze ruled the workplace.
Povich is an excellent writer, and parts of this book, especially where the women were secretly meeting and trying to recruit other women to join the suit, read like a tense spy novel. Will they get caught?
They hired a young and pregnant Eleanor Holmes Norton to represent them. "The editors, who had supported the struggle for civil rights, were completely baffled by this pregnant black woman who questioned their commitment to equality."
The male editors, some of whom seemed like great guys, just didn't get it. What was worse in many of the women's eyes, was that Katherine Graham, who owned The Washington Post and Newsweek, didn't get it either. There is a powerful scene where Graham meets with the women and appears baffled by their action.
Along with the historical context of this story, I enjoyed reading about the inner workings of the magazine. We had a subscription for many years, and I always turned to read Anna Quindlen's back page column first. I had no idea that the struggle for equality there was so recent.
I recognized so many names in this book- Qunidlen, Ephron, Eleanor Clift, Jane Bryant Quinn and Maureen Orth among them. But it is the names that I didn't know, they are the important names, the ones who laid it all on the line so that the above mentioned women would be well known. Women like Povich, Pat Lynden and Lucy Howard paved the way for the other women with this lawsuit.
This book is essential reading for all young women starting out in the workplace. They must know who fought the battles for them so that they have the opportunities now available to them. The women of Newsweek are heroes, and I think that this book would be perfect for a high school or college journalism curriculum. I was also lucky enough to meet Ms. Povich at this year's Book Expo America, a true honor.
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LibraryThing member Pamici
Fascinating and enlightening! I'm appalled at how unaware I was of what was going on in the world 30+ years ago. I know it's a good book when I end up adding to my reading list during the course of finishing it. This one lead me to several additions for the near future!
LibraryThing member etxgardener
Lynn Povich's memoir of the working environment for women in the late 1960's, and the issues that made women in general file class action suits against their employees brought back my own memories of working in business immediately after I graduated from college in 1970: the "Help Wanted: Male" and
But even after the second winning law suit the women's issues weren't solved. The work/home life/children conundrum remained (and still remains) a problem keeping women out of the highest levels of the executive suites. We come a long, long way in 40 years, but getting over that last mile, it seems, is going to take a lot more work.
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""Help Wanted: Female" ads that were totally acceptable (and totally legal) and the blatant (and legal) segregation of women in pink collar ghettos. Povich describes this atmosphere are Newsweek where she worked as a researcher, and how a small group of women banded together to sue the company for the opportunity to be writers and editors. They won their suit, but had to go back and sue a second time when the male executive hierarchy at the magazine reneged on their agreements in the original suit.But even after the second winning law suit the women's issues weren't solved. The work/home life/children conundrum remained (and still remains) a problem keeping women out of the highest levels of the executive suites. We come a long, long way in 40 years, but getting over that last mile, it seems, is going to take a lot more work.
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LibraryThing member Jammies
This book should have been a favorite for me--a fascinating true story of women working together and fighting sexism plus some mid-century details. Instead, I read the whole book without feeling anything other than an academic interest in the fates of the protagonists, including the writer/narrator.
LibraryThing member CassandraT
It's great to hear the stories of women and men who were involved in early modern civil rights. I owe these women so much.
and yes, the author doesn't seem to get intersectionality. But I think what this tory shows is that one doesn't have to be perfect and that activism is a learning process.
I
and yes, the author doesn't seem to get intersectionality. But I think what this tory shows is that one doesn't have to be perfect and that activism is a learning process.
I
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found the writing style to be fine. My only issue is that the years seen to jump around a bit, and it's not always clear who's what where when. there's also a lot of detail, but I like that. every person is a person. Show Less
LibraryThing member krazy4katz
An interesting book about what was happening in the 70s while I was in high school and I didn't realize it! The problems faced by these women who were so clearly suffering from discrimination was very interesting. How they dealt with it and the problems that came up that seemed to be unique to
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women (having a baby, husband has a job somewhere else) really brought home how hard it is even today. I didn't care for the writing so much, which is why I only gave it 3 stars, but the history is fascinating. Show Less
LibraryThing member jonerthon
This title isn't new but after reading a history of the publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux I had become more intrigued about the large players in traditional publishing, and news magazines are among them. This is Lynn Povich's take, where she was among a large group of women that found their careers
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stagnate while their male colleagues got plumb assignments and climbed the ladder. She connects this story to a newer generation of women at Newsweek that ended up doing much the same thing decades later, as they found the 21st century hadn't changed the work environment for the better. There is also an impressive who's who of people involved or impacted by that original lawsuit. My favorite title of this quarter, no contest. Show Less
LibraryThing member fmclellan
An important record of the history of women in journalism. I was saddened and maddened by it.
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2012
Physical description
304 p.; 5.38 inches
ISBN
1610397460 / 9781610397469