The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace

Feminist history at its best, Povich evokes, with clear-eyed affection and a keen sense of history the heady atmosphere of “Swinging Sixties”-era Newsweek: a real-life Mad Men with a social conscience and sense of mission. In 1970, when Newsweek’s editors, who prided themselves on their progressive views (pro–civil rights, anti–Vietnam War), determined that the women’s movement merited a cover story, it didn’t occur to them that Newsweek’s caste system, which relegated women to dead-end jobs as researchers. was a civil rights violation. An unpleasant surprise awaited them when, on June 16, 1970—the same day Newsweek’s “Women in Revolt” issue hit the newsstands—46 female Newsweek employees, Povich among them, filed an EEOC complaint charging Newsweek with systematic discrimination in hiring and promotion. The transformation of Povich—who subsequently became Newsweek’s first female senior editor—and her colleagues from polite, deferential girls to women of courage forms the heart of this lively, engaging book. Their successful lawsuit paved the way for similar suits at the New York Times, NBC, and others, expanding opportunities for women journalists while underscoring how attitudes are often more resistant to change than laws. Forty years later, women are discovering for themselves that the fight for equal rights is not over. (Sept.)