By Sarah Verpooten, MJE
March is Women’s History Month. Despite the overwhelming majority of girls in high school journalism programs nationwide, the professional journalism world has yet to reach gender parity. According to a 2019 study by the Women’s Media Center, only 41.7% percent of professional journalists identify as female.
As high school journalism educators, we love when our students use their voice to report on and shape their community. The female voice, however, becomes more of a minority as girls get older. More girls exist in our high school programs than in college and more girls exist in college programs than in the professional world. So, how do we support our girls to become women who continue to use their voice as adults in the field?
We spoke with two female professionals to discuss what kept them going in their journalism career path. Each video has suggestions for what we can do to provide role models and opportunities for our girls to push them farther in journalism.
Maya Eaglin works as a Digital News Reporter for NBC News’ Stay Tuned
Samantha J. Gross works as a government reporter for the Miami Herald
Lindsay Porter