Girls in Journalism

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 118, 26 September 1941, Page 5

Girls in Journalism

-- HERE is just one more point to be considered here. The discussion so far has been without any distinction as to sex, and there are plenty of girls who feel they would like to go in for journalism. It would be quite wrong to say they should go ahead, that the whole field is open before them, because it isn’t. It is true there are women employed in journalism both in this country and elsewhere, and many of them are doing very valuable work, Nevertheless, generally speaking, and more particularly in New Zealand, they are likely to be found doing specialised work of a limited kind, social reporting, looking after the women’s and children’s sections, and so forth. It’s no use considering the case of Dorothy Thompson and other famous women journalists of other countries and thinking that the way to such a career lies clear. The truth is that such openings are few in any country, and in New Zealand practically non-existent. If you were to go through the newspaper offices of this country searching for the number of women employed on the ordinary reporting, sub-editorial, and editorial staffs, the number would take very little counting. It isn’t a question whether this should be so, it is just a fact that it is, and at the present time the situation shows no special sign of changing. The result is that the opportunity for girls in journalism is very much smaller than for boys, and that must be realised if disappointment is to be avoided.-(" Literature and Journalism," R. A. Melville, 1YA, September 4.)