As part of International Women’s Day 2021, the Society of Editors has highlighted the work of some remarkable women journalists from the past.
Starting with the first female editor of a UK national newspaper, the founding members of the Society of Women Journalists and progressing to the courageous frontline war reporters, listed below are just a few inspirational women from across the industry’s rich archive.
Now, you can get involved in the nominations by tagging @EditorsUK on Twitter with the names of present-day journalists who inspire you. This could be exceptional TV journalists, trailblazing editors or champions of local news.
The highlights appear below:
For #IWD2021 the SoE is celebrating women journalists past and present. We start with Rachel Beer, who became the first female editor of a UK national newspaper @ObserverUK and later purchased the @thesundaytimes continuing to edit both titles until 1901.https://t.co/qFOuBPYpuf
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
Early in her career, Middlemarch novelist George Eliot was a contributor to the Coventry Herald and Observer @covobservernews. She later became assistant editor on the left-wing journal The Westminster Review from 1851 until 1852. #IWD2021https://t.co/Zhr24htDeb
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
Author Eliza Lynn Linton was first female full-time employed journalist in Fleet Street. It was her Saturday Review articles during the 1860s and 70s that made her name, albeit controversially, as she waged war on the “shrieking sisterhood”. #IWD2021https://t.co/5zIC6qhWVe
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
Irish-born foreign correspondent Emily Crawford wrote her ‘Letter from Paris’ columns in the 1860s before becoming Paris correspondent of the Daily News. She later became President of the Society of Women Journalists in 1901. #IWD2021https://t.co/IqbHLXrxHI
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
#IWD2021 Described as the unsung heroine of the Civil Rights Movement, Ida B Wells was an American investigative journalist and activist who used her platform to raise the issue of racial inequality. She wrote her autobiography Crusade for Justice in 1928.https://t.co/1v4aqjNpTV
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
A founder of the Society of Women Journalists, Mary Frances Billington helped establish the Southern Echo newspaper in 1888. Also wrote a weekly @Telegraph focusing on women’s working lives and later reported from France during World War I. #IWD2021https://t.co/j2Dgm3XfA2
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
The renowned 20th century war reporter Martha Gellhorn covered virtually every major world conflict that took place during her 60-year career. From the Spanish Civil War to Vietnam, her writing is collected in the canonical Face of War. #IWD2021https://t.co/55OZdSVzNi
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
Publisher Katharine Graham took over @washingtonpost after her husband’s suicide in 1963. At the helm during the paper’s printing of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate investigation, her memoir won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. #IWD2021https://t.co/QDZk2M2r5m
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
Marie Colvin worked as foreign affairs correspondent for @TheSundayTimes from 1985. The fearless reporter wore an eye patch having lost sight in her left eye during the Sri Lankan Civil War. She died covering the siege of Homs, Syria in 2012. #IWD2021https://t.co/DWN1LftcoA
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
Indian journalist-turned activist Gauri Lankesh was the editor of a Bangalore weekly newspaper and was an outspoken critic of the nationalist government. Each day, her team would ask her “What are we going to fight today?” #IWD2021https://t.co/oNGW4qd4sf
— Society of Editors UK (@EditorsUK) March 8, 2021
