Women Who Made the News: Female Journalists in Canada, 1880-1945

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

Marjorie Lang, a history professor, profiles the talented, ambitious,
persistent women who opened the doors of journalism to the generations
of women who followed.

In 1891, there were 35 women editors, reporters, and journalists in
Canada and 751 men doing these jobs. Although relegated to the
homemaking, fashion, and society pages, the ladies of the press made
inroads. In 1892, Laura Bradshaw Durand became the first book reviewer
of the Saturday Globe. Being a female journalist wasn’t easy, of
course. The Manitoba Free Press dismissed women reporters as follows:
“Unlike men, these aspirants for journalistic laurels regard the task
of composing available newspaper reading about as seriously as they
would that of sewing on their buttons ... Journalism with them is not a
profession but a pastime.”

Undaunted, the women forged on. In 1904, the Canadian Women’s Press
Club was formed. As result of its activism over the years, more and more
opportunities became available to women. In 1920, Lotta Dempsey began
her illustrious career at the Edmonton Journal; Genevieve
Lipsett-Skinner joined Ottawa’s all-male parliamentary press gallery.

This well-written and thoroughly researched book is an admirable homage
to the women who fought fiercely to break down the barriers of
discrimination that prevented them from participating fully in the
fourth estate.