"Pushy": As NY Times Fires 1st Woman Exec. Editor, Decades-Long Bid for Newsroom Equality Continues

We look at the firing of Jill Abramson, the first female executive editor of The New York Times in its 160 year history, who had reportedly complained about earning less pay than her male predecessors. This apparently amplified unattributed characterizations that Abramson's management style was "brusque" and "pushy," which critics took issue with since similar behavior from men in similar roles is often accepted, and even encouraged. "Jill put many many women in top positions and was a role model for the younger women and all women at The New York Times," says our guest Lynn Povich, who was the first female senior editor in Newsweek's history. "We know how upset they are to see the way in which she was dismissed."

Watch the full 15-minute interview on Democracy Now!:

Povich also discusses the status of women in the media, which she helped shape when she led a lawsuit in 1970 against Newsweek for hiring women only as researchers, and rarely promoting them to reporter or editor. Following a victory in the case, women working at Time, The Reader's Digest, The New York Times, NBC and The Associated Press also sued their employers. Povich recounts the story in her book, "The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace." Since leaving Newsweek in 1991, she has been editor-in-chief of Working Woman magazine and managing editor/senior executive producer for MSNBC.com.

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