An Unladylike Profession

At the start of World War I, war reporting remained one of the most well-guarded, thoroughly male bastions of journalism, which belonged to a rugged brotherhood of male adventurers. However, as increasing numbers of men, including journalists, enlisted, female reporters took their place and began to change the narrative. Women were not just passive victims on the periphery of the war that happened on the battlefields; rather, they were active participants, fully engaged in the war, only with different burdens, sacrifices, and heroism than men. When war broke out in Europe in August 1914, female journalists traveled to the warring countries, even reporting from the dangerous vantage of the front lines, to cover the conflict from beginning to end. In addition, they produced articles on political unrest, labor conditions, and social change, such as food shortages, progress in women's rights, and the rise of socialism.An Unladylike Profession: American Women War Correspondents in World War I, by Chris Dubbs, tells the dramatic stories of over thirty women who traveled to Europe to write about World War I for America's newspapers and magazines. At a time when women were still novelties in the newsroom, these journalists defied gender norms and official restrictions to establish a new role for themselves in reporting the greatest war in history.