WOMEN AND THEIR WORDS: Notable Pioneers in NZ Journalism
Janet McCallum
Fraser Books, $35, pbk
Newspapers and magazines in this country would find it hard to operate these days were it not for the presence of women journalists.
Not so in days gone by, when publications were mainly staffed by men and women received scant encouragement to join the ranks.
But, often against great odds, determined women did gain appointment to jobs which provided scope for exercising their literary talents, even if in circumscribed roles like writing articles specifically for women and children.
Janet McCallum, in Women and Their Words, has delved deeply to deliver up the experiences of a great many would-be women journalists in New Zealand from the 1860s till the late 1940s.
Too often their talents were under-rated and their recompense for long hours, even more so than the men, poor.
But most beavered away determinedly.
Gradually their abilities came to be appreciated - if not always by male colleagues - and some were given their deserved place in the sun.
Keen young university graduate Eileen Service, who later married Dr F. G. Soper, chemistry professor and eventually Otago university vice-chancellor, was told by her editor at the Otago Daily Times in 1924: "You will not be either expected or allowed to do general reporting. We have men for that sort of thing."
What was required of her (at 30 shillings a week, half a teacher's pay) was "a page of sentences stating which women were in and out of town, paragraphs revealing the names of women present at private parties, and suitably captioned, a description of the hats and dresses worn by women at fashionable gatherings - in short, a page of social notes".
I well recall the demeaning work entrusted in the 1950s to Dr Kathleen Silver, a highly-talented colleague of mine on the ODT.
Holding a doctorate in French studies from the Sorbonne University, Paris, Dr Silver in 1947 joined her husband, who had been appointed professor of modern languages at Otago university.
Dr Silver began work on the ODT in 1951 as women's editor.
Her expertise was never put to use beyond the women's pages, despite being recognised by her employer as "an enthusiastic, competent and willing worker", and "an intelligent and adaptable person" with "a personality women find particularly engaging".
I well remember Dr Silver ceaselessly gathering brief items for the Social and Personal column, like: "Mr and Mrs Perfect Bore are spending two weeks at their holiday home in Wanaka," or "Mr and Mrs Well-Heeled left Dunedin yesterday on the first stage of a journey which will take them to Australia, England and France."
It was said that "her wide cultural background and general experience gave her a great advantage in the varied tasks that came her way, and her gentle manner won the confidence of all with whom she came into contact."
A pity her abilities were not fully recognised.
Elsie K. Morton, once described as "the doyen of New Zealand women journalists", was the first and only woman to achieve senior reporter status (on the New Zealand Herald) by the 1920s.
When the role of women journalists in more recent times is dissected, a Dunedin woman who will rank among literary notabilities will be the late Mary Buchanan.
A skilled shorthand writer, Mrs Buchanan was promoted from her position as women's editor on the Dunedin Evening Star in the early 1950s to become a skilled senior reporter, assigned to all manner of assignments (while continuing to write a highly popular weekly column), initially to the chagrin of some of her male colleagues.
Women and Their Words should be an inspiration to all present-day women reporters who might think they have it tough.
- Clarke Isaacs is a former chief of staff of the Otago Daily Times.
