We Agreed that women were a nuisance in the office anyway: The portrayal of women journalists in early twentieth-century British fiction

The growing numbers of women journalists entering the profession in the early twentieth century provoked mixed reactions from contemporary novelists. Responses evolved from cheering on a doughty pioneer to questioning whether women’s presence in the mass print media was helping reform the status of women or reinforcing gender stereotypes. Little is known about the personal struggles of women journalists in the early years of the popular press. In the absence of plentiful data the study of novels and short stories, many of them semi-autobiographical and written by men and women working in the early twentieth century newspaper industry, combined with analysis of previously un-studied memoirs and early guides for women journalists illuminate the obstacles – and opportunities – experienced by these pioneers