Writing and Women’s Equality in the Workforce
Betsy Taylor
Our Rainy Day Writers’ group is comprised equally of male and female members. We encourage each other and work together to enhance the strengths of each of us without any gender bias. Individually or as a collective, we never give a thought to a time when female writers were ignored, dismissed, or barred from participating in any journalistic endeavor.
To be clear, by the early 20th century, women had often written and published poetry, essays, novels, and short stories. This type of writing was considered frivolous and an acceptable feminine pursuit. But serious journalism was never an outlet for a woman’s abilities. The ban on females’ writing for the mainstream press was strictly enforced.
Prejudices against women in the workforce were alive and well at the time. Generally, women were seen as less intelligent, less well-educated, not as capable, or as reliable. Their unreliability, it was said, stemmed from a woman’s need to focus on home responsibilities and childcare needs. Women who were able to secure employment in male-dominated fields were scorned because they were taking jobs away from men who needed those jobs to support a family.
During the early 1920s the ratification of the 19th amendment was gaining support. The amendment eventually granted women the right to vote. Even after ratification, the law was unpopular. Some people looked at the new law as giving husbands two votes. Others felt that the law granted a privilege that was undeserved. Some husbands forbade their wives to vote. But women’s empowerment gained momentum and many saw the law as an entry into new avenues of endeavor.
Cory Rigby, born in Lancaster, Ohio in 1866, was a serious writer who didn’t fit with feminine expectations. A woman of tiny stature, Cora earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University followed by a master’s degree from The Ohio State University. Undeterred by convention, she joined the staff of the student newspaper, The Lantern serving as its literary editor. But that was only a springboard to working in newspapers. Although her real interest was political journalism, she was stuck writing columns on the “women’s page.”
When Cora suggested that she write a daily column on state politics, the editor of The Ohio State Journal was so scandalized that he escorted her home and told her mother that the newsroom was no place for a lady.
Despite resistance, Cora didn’t stop. She simply plowed ahead commandeering an unused desk in the newsroom and doggedly writing until her colleagues and editor could see that she was doing good work – not good work for a woman, but actual good work. Based on that work, she secured a position at the Boston Globe and earned the right to cover solid news. Moving on to the New York Herald, Cora earned the respect of owner/editor James Bennett, Jr. She became the editor of that paper’s Sunday Magazine.
Admired for her concise writing style Cora never pretended that her material wasn’t written by a woman. However, most readers couldn’t tell who was behind her typewriter.
When war broke out in 1914, Cora was a correspondent in London. She returned to the U.S. and continued at the Herald until 1918 when the newspaper began failing. A leap to The Christian Science Monitor based in Washington, D.C. allowed her to continue reporting on news in the capital and around the nation. During her years in the political scene, Cora had gained an education that made her a shrewd judge of politicians and a sharp analyst of their voting records. When she commented about those in power, people listened.
A champion of women’s rights, Cora mentored many up-and-coming writers who, not only succeeded, but made important contributions in the field of journalism. The National Press Club finally voted to admit women in 1971, in part due to the perseverance of women like Cora Rigby.
Having contracted tuberculosis, Cora passed away in 1930 at the age of 64. She is buried at Forest Rose Cemetery in Lancaster, Ohio.
Hats off to writers like Cora Rigby who blazed a trail for women to be accepted for their skills, not discounted for their gender.
