How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace

When the Newsweek editors decided to write a cover story about feminism in March 1970, it was a hot topic, just the sort of current events coverage that the news magazine was known for. The day the issue hit the stands, a group of women who worked at Newsweek filed a civil rights suit against the magazine. Newsweek was being sued for gender discrimination.

Lynn Povich, one of the few women writers at Newsweek at the time, was one of forty-six women filing the suit, and she has gathered the documents and interviewed many of the people involved, on both sides, to ensure that the story isn't forgotten. The resulting book left me feeling both exhilarated at the progress they made in 1970 and beyond, and dismayed at the lost ground that will have to be fought over yet again.

The case was almost laughably open and shut, from a legal standpoint. Women with Ivy League degrees were hired at Newsweek as secretaries or researchers, and rarely rose above that. Men with similar degrees were hired as writers and went on to become correspondents and editors. Women who tried to become writers were discouraged or simply passed over. The few who did become writers were paid lower wages than men at the same level.

But the system was so entrenched that most of the women were reluctant to stir the pot. They were good girls.

While some of the management at Newsweek were surprised that the women won the suit, they shouldn't have been. On the other hand, it probably shouldn't have been a big surprise to the women that two years after having won the case, there were even fewer women writers and editors at Newsweek than before. They had to sue again.

Povich quotes Jane Bryant Quinn (who worked at Newsweek, but not at the time of the lawsuits) as saying "Equality is never given, it is taken."

The book opens and closes with the plight of several women working for Newsweek today who are astonished to find themselves facing obstacles such as the ones that were supposed to have been overcome forty years ago. They were unaware of the events of forty years ago. The Good Girls Revolt may have to be waged yet again.

I had the oddest feeling while reading this book that time both stands still even as it flees by. Povich starts the book with a vignette of three young professional women and their plight of career stagnation due to discrimination. Then she describes the stories of some of the principal complainants in the 1970 class action suit brought against `Newsweek' for sex discrimination. Povich outlines not just their professional stories but also some of their relevant personal history including their outlooks on life, their career goals, and their unique personalities. This makes the story personal and the reader can't help but root for their triumph. It seems so ludicrous from this distance to realize a lot of these women had Ivy league educations yet were stuck in the mail or research rooms of `Newsweek'. What a waste of an education, drive, and talent. They did win the suit but sadly, they had to continue to fight for what they'd supposedly won through the courts. An entrenched social system doesn't change overnight. Also, not everyone longs to be at the top, many are content with fulfilling jobs that allow time for a family life. The downside to the situation is the women who'd been exiled to fact checking for the male writers sometimes didn't aspire to be writers but felt compelled to try out for that slot after the suit and if they succeeded in becoming a writer they felt obligated to write `hard' news rather than arts and culture articles regardless of their interests. Worst of all few of the women who lodged the suit benefited personally from it. It was the women who came after them who were able to take advantage of the opportunities these women made possible. Povich walks us through the decades post-suit and what that meant for women.

One of the worst enemies for women then and now is the desire to be `nice', to be a team player, and to be thought well of. Women in positions of power are much more likely to be disliked than those in the typing pool. Worst of all finding a mentor is a challenge for women. Men can more easily find an older, more successful man to teach him the ropes, someone who will champion him and his career goals. Standing out or achieving recognition as a woman is seen as being pushy and rude. Not so for men especially if they have someone powerful to back them. It was then that I realized how relatively recent some of these changes were. And sadly the experiences of Jessica, Jesse, and Sara, the three women who sued for more job opportunities and less discrimination in 2010, still felt the sting of a culture that under estimates women and the family in general even today. This is a fascinating history of the workplace and I love how Povich informs on how both sexes benefited and/or were deprived of finding a work situation that best fit for them. So much progress, so much still to achieve.

This review is based on an e-galley provided by the publisher.

Highly recommended for a fascinating look at working conditions at Newsweek magazine in the early 1970s and the women and men who worked there.

Below is a brief outline of the contents.

Prologue What Was the Problem? - How three young women frustrated in their positions at Newsweek in 2009 became aware of actions taken 40 years earlier about similar frustrations.

Chapter 1 "Editors File Story, Girls File Complaint" - Vivid account of a packed press conference announcing a suit by 46 women employees against Newsweek on March 16 1970, the same day the magazine's cover story was titled "Women in Revolt".

Chapter 2 "A Newsmagazine Tradition" - Tells how the author started with Newsweek in 1965 as a secretary in the Paris bureau, then returned to New York, where she grew in awareness that opportunities were fewer for women than for men with similar backgrounds.

Chapter 3 The "Hot Book" - Relates how Osborn Elliot ("Oz") as editor invigorated Newsweek and describes the social life of employees in the 1960s.

Chapter 4 Ring Leaders - Provides backgrounds of the organizers of the 1970 revolt: Judy Gingold, Margaret Montagno, Lucy Howard, Pat Lynden, and Lynn Povich (the author).

Chapter 5 "You Gotta Take Off Your White Gloves, Ladies" - After backgrounds for a few more young ladies recruited to the group, introduces ACLU lawyer Eleanor Holmes Norton, who advised them as stated in the chapter title.

Chapter 6 Round One - Covers final preparations for the press conference and the subsequent negotiations which led to signing of a memorandum of understanding on August 26 1970.

Chapter 7 Mad Men: The Boys Fight Back - By the fall of 1971, Newsweek had hired twelve new writers, nine men and only three women. With their first lawyer no longer available, the group looks for a new lawyer to represent them.

Between page 124 and the first page of chapter 8 on page 125 is a 12-page photo insert without page numbers. The 32 photographs and informative captions on those pages offer the reader a face for most of the principal characters. Of special interest on the fourth page is a group photo of the Newsweek top management team known as "the Wallendas": Editor-in-Chief Oz Elliott, Managing Editor Lester Bernstein, Executive Editor Robert Christopher, and Editor Kermit Lansner.

Chapter 8 The Steel Magnolia - Describes background of the group's new lawyer, Harriet Schaffer Rabb, who recommends two actions: to file a new complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and at the same time a breach-of-contract suit with the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Chapter 9 "Joe -- Surrender" - When Joe Califano, a corporate attorney for the Washington Post Company, asks David Povich, older brother of Lynn, for advice about the Newsweek negotiations, David's reply is the title of this chapter.

Chapter 10 The Barricades Fell - Lists advances and setbacks for the movement for equal opportunity for women elsewhere before returning to Newsweek, where Lynn accepts a promotion to senior editor in the Arts section only after reaching agreement that her pay will be the same as that of a man doing the same work.

Chapter 11 Passing the Torch - After bringing her personal history up to date with the background of her second husband, Steve Shepard, Lynn returns to the account of the three young women introduced in the Prologue, who eventually succeed in having their four-page story "Are We There Yet?" published in the March 22 2010 issue of Newsweek.

Epilogue Where They Are Now - Provides updated information about twenty characters in this story.

Acknowledgments - two pages
Notes on Sources - nine pages
Bibliography - two pages, 26 titles
Index - 13 pages, two columns per page

Following the Index is a photo and bio of the author on a single page without a number.

Really interesting and detailed account about what it was like to work at Newsweek at that time and all about the lawsuits. I also like how Povich bookended it with the modern day story. And I love the series on the store created from the book and wish they would bring it back for more seasons!!! Thank you, Ms. Povich, for documenting your experience.

I very much enjoyed Lynn Povich's book covering the true story of the suit launched by the women at Newsweek magazine in 1970 and used as the backstory of the new the store Video series: Good Girls Revolt. I especially appreciated the perspectives of some of the young women at Newsweek nearly 40 years later. Definitely progress has been made, but the statistics in the corporate world, the pay inequality, and the fact that local and federal government representatives are not very representative of our nation's population show that we still have a long way to go.

Providing a fresh new perspective of an event rarely accounted for, Lynn Povich does a fabulous job of offering first hand accounts of the women’s revolution that took place at Newsweek Magazine in 1970 becoming the first widely publicized legal act of feminism. Drawing from her own experiences, one can’t help but get a sense of being on the sidelines as the author takes you on a personal journey filled with heart, courage, and hard hitting facts. The novel was masterfully written through its ability to not only recount this historic event but weave the women’s stories throughout and show a great deal of character development. I could practically feel myself tagging along as the seemingly average New York woman courageously sued their magazine for the right to become writers and against the sexism in the workplace. Deepening my knowledge of a topic i’m really interested in while simultaneously keeping me intrigued the whole way through, I loved this book.

So amazing! I rarely write reviews without prompting, but I just watched season 1; Loved it so much and was disappointed that the store dropped the series. Finally found my Mad Man (admittedly went on for a few seasons too long) replacement. Although we all know women become extraorinay reporters, I believe the story has at least one more season to allow these characters to show us the ups and downs from Barabara Walters to Oprah.

Though this book chronicles the Newsweek Lawsuit brought on by many women in the 1970's, the story is not over. These women fought hard to be recognized for their brains and stories, and today, women still struggle to get their stories heard over men's. This is a story of women empowerment and how women everywhere can make an impact in their work places.

Interesting situation, but doesn't develop into much. Povich describes well the injustice and rampant sexism the women at Newsweek faced. But the story never develops much pace or rhythm. They hired a great lawyer. Newsweek bent a bit. Time went on. They hired another lawyer. Things got a bit better again. Over time, women finally were given major opportunities, including Povich herself.

One drawback is the personalities of the people involved rarely get well established, and having a list of them at the end of the book, and what happened to them post-Newsweek, is too little, too late. Also, Povich is never able to make us care about Newsweek itself. Sure, we've heard of the magazine, but what influence did it have, why should readers today--now that the magazine is all but dead--care?

I was 20 in 1970 when these courageous women took on correcting a wrong. Thank you for this wonderful book with all the details that reminded me of those times and that there are always improvements to make. Let us stay vigilant in making our world a better place.