It is always important to remind a women’s professional career. Even though society has evolved in the recent history, it is not possible to say that women are in the same level men are, when wage equity and job opportunities are the central issue. Journalism is not an exception: sexism is deep-rooted in many distinct ways and it is much more difficult for women being recognized for their work and achieve success. Of course, there are female journalists that have broken all these barriers and inspire thousands of women. Here are five of them:
#1 – Xinran
Image Source: Mark Cocksedge
This Chinese journalist brought to the public something unprecedented: the women’s situation in China. From 1989 to 1997, she was a popular radio personality in the country and presented a calling-program named Words on the Night Breeze, where women talked about their issues. The most remarkable stories compiled became later a book she wrote named The Good Women of China. In this work, it is possible to understand questions that Chinese women have: from problems caused by Mao Tse Tung’s dictatorship to cheating husbands or unhappy marriages. Xinran wrote another five books, and today works for The Guardian and BBC London.
#2 – Miriam Leitão
Image Source: Pedro Ladeira
This Brazilian journalist is one of the survivals from Brazil’s military dictatorship, that began in 1964 and finished in 1985. In the year of 1972, Miriam was arrested and recently declared that, when in jail, she was tortured because of political reasons, such as hundreds of other Brazilian journalists who were fighting for democracy and freedom of speech. Today, she is 64 years old and is one of the most important journalists in the Brazilian scene, working in the economic and political sections on TV and newspapers. Miriam represents an important voice from those times and brings to younger journalists a more realistic idea of how painful and difficult were this part of the XX century in Brazil and Latin America.
#3 – Glória Maria
Image Source: TV Globo
Glória Maria Matta da Silva is a Brazilian journalist, reporter and TV presenter. This woman broke another barrier besides sexism: racism. She started working on TV in the 70’s and is considered the first black woman to become notorious in Brazil’s journalism scene. During her career, Glória has travelled around the world: she has already visited 125 countries. This woman has also interviewed celebrities such as Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson and Madonna, and covered historic events like the Falklands War that happened in 1982.
#4 – Gerda Taro
Image Source: Pinterest
This German woman is considered the first female war photographer. Gerda Taro, who happened to be Robert Capa’s wife, had a much more invisible career than he did. While Capa is still considered one of the photojournalism’s most important names, Gerda is known in a much more specific field.
The photos she produced during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) are her most famous work. Gerda died in 1937 in the battle front in Spain while she was taking pictures.
#5 – Anna Erelle
Image Source: Thomas Lainé/Grazia
Author of the book In The Skin of a Jihadist, this French journalist faced by herself one of the biggest issues the contemporary world has these days: ISIS. Anna, that actually is a pseudonym this journalist created for her own safety, pretended to be a twenty-year-old girl, who recently converted to the Islamic faith and was willing to get married with an ISIS leader. Her book exposed to the world how the ISIS recruits youngsters, and for that, were able to make the readers understand better the organization’s pillars.
Anna’s identity stills anonymous to the world, and no one knows how her face looks like neither what this woman’s real name, but one thing Is certain: her book won’t be easily forgotten.