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SUING THEIR WAY INTO THE NEWSROOM: HOW WOMEN AT THE DETROIT NEWS CHANGED JOURNALISM

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Date Issued:
2012
Abstract/Description:
The women's liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s utilized various means for activism and demonstrations, but women also used the judicial system to fight for equality in the workplace. This study focuses specifically on the field of journalism and how female reporters used the courts to fight the gender discrimination that was widespread and unbridled before the creation of legislation that outlawed it. The lawsuit filed by Mary Lou Butcher and approximately 90 other women against The Detroit News is one such case that exemplifies the process of filing a gender discrimination lawsuit, as well as the events that led to the suits and the impact that it and similar lawsuits had on the field of journalism and the women's liberation movement as a whole. Using textual analysis to examine the coverage of these lawsuits by industry literature and by the publications challenged by the lawsuits demonstrates what the field of newspapers and magazines was like during the time of the cases. Comparing the same media during the times of the lawsuits and post-settlement reveal how they contributed to an adjusted view of female journalists and aided women's acceptance in American newsrooms.
Title: SUING THEIR WAY INTO THE NEWSROOM: HOW WOMEN AT THE DETROIT NEWS CHANGED JOURNALISM.
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Name(s): Palmeira, Amanda, Author
Voss, Kimberly, Committee Chair
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: The women's liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s utilized various means for activism and demonstrations, but women also used the judicial system to fight for equality in the workplace. This study focuses specifically on the field of journalism and how female reporters used the courts to fight the gender discrimination that was widespread and unbridled before the creation of legislation that outlawed it. The lawsuit filed by Mary Lou Butcher and approximately 90 other women against The Detroit News is one such case that exemplifies the process of filing a gender discrimination lawsuit, as well as the events that led to the suits and the impact that it and similar lawsuits had on the field of journalism and the women's liberation movement as a whole. Using textual analysis to examine the coverage of these lawsuits by industry literature and by the publications challenged by the lawsuits demonstrates what the field of newspapers and magazines was like during the time of the cases. Comparing the same media during the times of the lawsuits and post-settlement reveal how they contributed to an adjusted view of female journalists and aided women's acceptance in American newsrooms.
Identifier: CFH0004306 (IID), ucf:45056 (fedora)
Note(s): 2012-12-01
B.A.
Sciences, Nicholson School of Communication
Bachelors
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): journalism
feminism
law
the detroit news
lawsuits
discrimination
women's liberation movement
women's rights
mary lou butcher
newspapers
newsrooms
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004306
Restrictions on Access: public 2012-11-01
Host Institution: UCF

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