Lynn Povich Quotes & Sayings

ahead,'" she recalled, "and everyone was saying the same thing - 'if I were better I would get ahead.' All of us in that room felt inadequate. And that's when I thought, wait a minute, that's not right. It's not because we're undeserving or not talented enough that we aren't getting ahead, it's how the world is run. It made me — Lynn Povich

Oz had arranged rows of folding chairs for the women facing one of the soft suede couches where he had placed himself and Kermit. "Big mistake," Oz later told me. "The sofa was about a foot and a half lower than the chairs and now Kermit and I are looking up at forty-seven women - our knees under our chins. — Lynn Povich

For every man there was an inferior woman, for every writer there was a checker," said Nora Ephron. "they were the artists and we were the drones. — Lynn Povich

of the land right away. Nora Ephron, Ellen Goodman, Jane Bryant Quinn, and Susan Brownmiller all started at Newsweek in the early 1960s, but left fairly quickly and developed very successful writing careers elsewhere. "I thought I'd work my way up - to the clip desk, to research, and eventually to writer - once I — Lynn Povich

We were women in transition, raised in one era and coming of age in another, very different time ... here we were, entering the workplace in the 1960s questioning
and often rejecting
many of the values we had been taught. We were the polite, perfectionist "good girls," who never showed our drive or our desires around men. Now we were becoming mad women, discovering and confronting our own ambitions, a quality praised in men but stigmatized
still
in women. — Lynn Povich

I don't think these men know that it's illegal,"she said. "They're very liberal and they have daughters and I think we should talk to them."The gruff-voiced woman barked back, "Don't be a naive little girl. People who have power don't like to give up that power. — Lynn Povich

When Newsweek owner Katharine Graham heard about our lawsuit, she asked, Which side am I supposed to be on? — Lynn Povich

I was a young guy who started as a fact checker," he said, "but I always knew - and was told - that I would get a shot at reporting, writing, and editing. For a young, ambitious, talented woman, that elevator was out of order. — Lynn Povich

There were elements of Mad Men at Newsweek, except that unlike the natty advertising types, journalists were notorious slobs and our two- and three-martini lunches were out of the office, not in ... Kevin Buckley, who was hired in 1963, described the Newsweek of the early 1960s as similar to an old movie, with the wisecracking private eye and his Girl Friday. "The 'hubba-hubba' climate was tolerated," he recalled. "I was told the editors would ask the girls to do handstands on their desk. Was there rancor? Yes. But in this climate, a laugh would follow. — Lynn Povich

The workplace is designed around the male life cycle and there is no allowance for children and family. There's a fragile new cultural ideal - that both the husband and wife work. — Lynn Povich

I quickly realized that I enjoyed editing more than writing. I felt more suited to it and it fit my nurturing personality. I had lots of ideas and a strong sense of structure, and I enjoyed working with talented writers, relishing the give-and-take in making their work better. — Lynn Povich

I was a good girl," she said. "I learned something about the world and found the courage not to be a good girl. — Lynn Povich

As they see their friends having babies, these young women also worry about how to balance work and family. "The idea of being able to 'have it all' is still prevalent," said Sarah Ball, who left Newsweek in the fall of 2010 to work for Vanityfair. "It's become easier because you can work remotely, but it still eats at your core. It's what a lot of my friends talk about." Free — Lynn Povich

movement behind us, each of us had to overcome deeply held values and traditional social strictures. The struggle was personally painful and — Lynn Povich

Mike Ruby, a writer in the magazine's Business section, used to call Newsweek writing f - k-style journalism: Flash (the lead), Understanding (the billboard - why is this story important), Clarification (tell the details of the story), and Kicker (bringing it all together with a clever ending). — Lynn Povich

Change is often rejuvenating, invigoration, fun ... and necessary. — Lynn Povich

At Newsweek only girls with college degrees
and we were called "girls" then
were hired to sort and deliver the mail, humbly pushing our carts from door to door in our ladylike frocks and proper high-heeled shoes. If we could manage that, we graduated to "clippers," another female ghetto. Dressed in drab khaki smocks so that ink wouldn't smudge our clothes, we sat at the clip desk, marked up newspapers, tore out releveant articles with razor-edged "rip sticks," and routed the clips to the appropriate departments. "Being a clipper was a horrible job," said writer and director Nora Ephron, who got a job at Newsweek after she graduated from Wellesley in 1962, "and to make matters worse, I was good at it. — Lynn Povich

In early 1970, Newsweek's editors decided that the new women's liberation movement deserved a cover story. There was one problem, however: there were no women to write the piece. — Lynn Povich

Perhaps most important for women's advancement, there still is no private or public support for working families, who rely primarily on mothers to care for the children. — Lynn Povich

I don't know if anything would make women coalesce like that today. It made me feel very jealous, as if our generation missed out on something. — Lynn Povich

Trish had qualms about joining the women and talked it over with Mary Pleshette. "I don't know about this whole business of women being in men's jobs," she confessed to Mary. "I like the differences between men and women and I think we should keep them." Mary asked her which differences she was afraid of losing. Trish didn't answer for a long time. "Oh well," she finally said, "we'll still be women
we'll just have better jobs. — Lynn Povich

Newsweek never hired women as writers and only one or two female staffers were promoted to that rank no matter how talented they were ... Any aspiring journalist who was interviewed for a job was told, If you want to be a writer, go somewhere else
women don't write at Newsweek. — Lynn Povich