Token responses to gendered newsrooms

Factors in the career-related decisions of female newspaper sports journalists

Bibliographic Data

ID7478784
AuthorsMarie Hardin (Penn State University, USA,, corresponding author), Erin Whiteside (Penn State University, USA,, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume10
Issue5
Pages627-646
Publication date2009-09-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14648849090100050501
OpenAlexW1996962335
LanguageEN
Citations received36
References cited19

Female sports journalists work as tokens in gendered organizations where masculinity is integral to hierarchical logic and newswork processes. Through in-depth interviews, this longitudinal study explores how women in the industry manage their gendered and professional identities and make career decisions. Our findings suggest that although participants framed their decisions to stay or to leave in idealized terms, their choices were also guided by cultural and structural impediments acknowledged but accepted as natural and immutable. The women noted negative gender-related experiences, but most minimized them and saw their gender as an advantage. They also described their struggles to balance their work and social lives, the latter of which they saw as a necessary sacrifice to become ideal workers. We discuss these issues and suggest that sports media will fail to reach gender parity until these barriers are addressed; until then, the revolving door will keep turning

Ideal (ethics · Masculinity · Political science · Public relations · Sacrifice · Sociology · Work (physics · Engineering · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges · Gender Studies · Social Psychology

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