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Settling: Women Who Sued the News
Not yet published
Expected 29 Oct 26A history of courage and collective action inside the most powerful newsrooms in America
In 1971, Susan Smith, a young researcher at Reader’s Digest, dared to imagine herself as an editor. Her ambition was swiftly dismissed by a hiring manager who told her, “Single girls just don’t do well in this job.” Crushed—and then furious—Smith sought out Harriet Rabb, the attorney who had successfully sued Newsweek for sex discrimination just a year earlier. Their meeting helped spark a class-action lawsuit that ultimately united two thousand women at the magazine and became part of a broader revolt inside American newsrooms. Smith’s experience was far from unique. For much of American history, journalism has been rigidly segregated by gender, with women confined to research, clerical work, or the “women’s pages,” while men dominated reporting, editing, and leadership. That system began to crack in the 1970s, as the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the women’s liberation movement emboldened newswomen to challenge daily discrimination. Yet this development has remained largely hidden, buried by editors reluctant to document inequities within their own institutions. Settling recovers this lost story.
Tracing class-action sex discrimination lawsuits at some of the most powerful news organizations in the United States—including The Washington Post, the Associated Press, The New York Times, and Time—Ashley Walter draws on oral histories and long-forgotten documents to reconstruct legal battles at eight major outlets. She argues that meaningful change came not from institutional goodwill but from the courage of women who organized, testified, and risked their careers to demand equality. Their victories reshaped journalism itself. As women assumed reporting and editorial roles, they broadened the scope of who counted as newsworthy, covering women as workers, political leaders, and authoritative sources. With this new illumination of women’s full participation in public life, newswomen shifted social norms and helped build women’s power across American society. By recovering these accounts, Settling reveals how newsroom struggles for gender equality transformed both journalism and the nation, offering urgent lessons for our present moment.
In 1971, Susan Smith, a young researcher at Reader’s Digest, dared to imagine herself as an editor. Her ambition was swiftly dismissed by a hiring manager who told her, “Single girls just don’t do well in this job.” Crushed—and then furious—Smith sought out Harriet Rabb, the attorney who had successfully sued Newsweek for sex discrimination just a year earlier. Their meeting helped spark a class-action lawsuit that ultimately united two thousand women at the magazine and became part of a broader revolt inside American newsrooms. Smith’s experience was far from unique. For much of American history, journalism has been rigidly segregated by gender, with women confined to research, clerical work, or the “women’s pages,” while men dominated reporting, editing, and leadership. That system began to crack in the 1970s, as the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the women’s liberation movement emboldened newswomen to challenge daily discrimination. Yet this development has remained largely hidden, buried by editors reluctant to document inequities within their own institutions. Settling recovers this lost story.
Tracing class-action sex discrimination lawsuits at some of the most powerful news organizations in the United States—including The Washington Post, the Associated Press, The New York Times, and Time—Ashley Walter draws on oral histories and long-forgotten documents to reconstruct legal battles at eight major outlets. She argues that meaningful change came not from institutional goodwill but from the courage of women who organized, testified, and risked their careers to demand equality. Their victories reshaped journalism itself. As women assumed reporting and editorial roles, they broadened the scope of who counted as newsworthy, covering women as workers, political leaders, and authoritative sources. With this new illumination of women’s full participation in public life, newswomen shifted social norms and helped build women’s power across American society. By recovering these accounts, Settling reveals how newsroom struggles for gender equality transformed both journalism and the nation, offering urgent lessons for our present moment.
206 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 29, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGallery for approving my request to read and review this book!
I found it a very interesting and engaging read and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how discrimination based on sex and gender intersects with other forms of discrimination. I deeply appreciate the fact that the Ashley Walter employs an intersectional gender perspective, showing throughout the book how queer and women of colour also were discriminated against not just based on gender but on sexual orientation and race respectively as well.
This book serves as a stark reminder of how much effort and time it took for the pioneering women to achieve the progress we have today and how powerful the legal system is as a tool for progress. At the same time, it can be used to reverse the progress as well, as we have seen in regards to for example abortion rights (Roe v. Wade getting overturned). The progress that has been made can't be taken for granted.
Although this book details sex discrimination and sexual harrasment within the newsrooms, I believe it offers an understanding for discrimination and harassment of women, people of colour and other marginalized groups in the workplace in general. The way in which white men take credit for the work women and people of colour do. Also how the workplace is segregated by gender and race is true for so many sectors, for example women are underrepresented among medical doctors but overrepresented among nurses. Shifting the blame from sexism and patriarchal structures to the individual woman by saying she must “step up” is also widely recognizable. It's indeed true that women in the workplace have to outperform men in male-dominated sectors to even get close to the same recognition. It's also the same for politics.
The argument Ashley Walter is making in this book is that the separate class action lawsuits against big publications were part of the same culture movement. By numerous examples I believe it is a case well made with references to back it up. The class-action lawsuits detailed in the book also illustrate how the struggle for gender equality not just morally but by necessity has to be intersectional and inclusive in order to be truly effective and just.
This is not a fictional book hence the language is academic in nature. However, I find that the language is accessible and the narration engaging so don't be afraid if you are not used to reading non-fiction! I also deeply appreciated the references provided throughout the book so that it is possible to find additional information.
All in all a great read and I highly recommend it.
I found it a very interesting and engaging read and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how discrimination based on sex and gender intersects with other forms of discrimination. I deeply appreciate the fact that the Ashley Walter employs an intersectional gender perspective, showing throughout the book how queer and women of colour also were discriminated against not just based on gender but on sexual orientation and race respectively as well.
This book serves as a stark reminder of how much effort and time it took for the pioneering women to achieve the progress we have today and how powerful the legal system is as a tool for progress. At the same time, it can be used to reverse the progress as well, as we have seen in regards to for example abortion rights (Roe v. Wade getting overturned). The progress that has been made can't be taken for granted.
Although this book details sex discrimination and sexual harrasment within the newsrooms, I believe it offers an understanding for discrimination and harassment of women, people of colour and other marginalized groups in the workplace in general. The way in which white men take credit for the work women and people of colour do. Also how the workplace is segregated by gender and race is true for so many sectors, for example women are underrepresented among medical doctors but overrepresented among nurses. Shifting the blame from sexism and patriarchal structures to the individual woman by saying she must “step up” is also widely recognizable. It's indeed true that women in the workplace have to outperform men in male-dominated sectors to even get close to the same recognition. It's also the same for politics.
The argument Ashley Walter is making in this book is that the separate class action lawsuits against big publications were part of the same culture movement. By numerous examples I believe it is a case well made with references to back it up. The class-action lawsuits detailed in the book also illustrate how the struggle for gender equality not just morally but by necessity has to be intersectional and inclusive in order to be truly effective and just.
This is not a fictional book hence the language is academic in nature. However, I find that the language is accessible and the narration engaging so don't be afraid if you are not used to reading non-fiction! I also deeply appreciated the references provided throughout the book so that it is possible to find additional information.
All in all a great read and I highly recommend it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3.25/5
It feels weird to give a book like this a 3.25/5 review, but that's just how it felt to me. I'm not rating the topic/stories, I'm rating the reading experience.
This read as super academic to me, like an essay. And I really prefer a non-fiction to read a little more conversationally. I think that makes the writing flow so much better. So that is totally a personal preference.
I did think this was full of so much information that I didn't know. And I really appreciated that. I learned a lot about just how many times women had to sue their news employers.
Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!
It feels weird to give a book like this a 3.25/5 review, but that's just how it felt to me. I'm not rating the topic/stories, I'm rating the reading experience.
This read as super academic to me, like an essay. And I really prefer a non-fiction to read a little more conversationally. I think that makes the writing flow so much better. So that is totally a personal preference.
I did think this was full of so much information that I didn't know. And I really appreciated that. I learned a lot about just how many times women had to sue their news employers.
Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews