Courting Women, Courting Advertisers

The Woman's Page and the Transformation of the American Newspaper, 1895-1935

Bibliographic Data

ID4156930
AuthorsJulie A Golia, Julie Golia (corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume103
Issue3
Pages606-628
Publication date2016-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of American History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jahist/jaw326
OpenAlexW2554087117
LanguageEN
Citations received7

Covering every phase of modern women's interests!” boasted the Chicago American in a 1933 ad in the advertising trade journal Printer's Ink. The Los Angeles Examiner assured potential advertisers that “we do make the paper irresistible to the average female.... If it's women you want, get 'em by the thousands.” The Detroit News, too, touted its female readership and insisted that “influence is what you really buy!” when advertising with that paper. These advertisements revealed that by the 1930s, potential women readers were a key preoccupation of newspaper advertisers and publishers alike.1 Motivated by their desire to draw advertising revenue, American newspaper publishers feminized both their content and business strategies in the early twentieth century. This article charts the dynamic rise and evolution of the woman's page in daily American newspapers between 1895 and 1935. It reveals that woman's sections, long dismissed as frivolous and banal, fostered experimental and participatory features even as they reinforced traditional gender norms. This study also demonstrates how publishers leveraged their woman's pages and female audiences to appeal to the values and interests of advertisers, thus gendering the editorial and business decisions of the American newspaper industry.2

Advertising · Business · Newspaper · Transformation (genetics · American History and Culture · Fashion and Cultural Textiles · History · Media, Gender, and Advertising

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub