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↑ (Courtesy of Western Historical Manuscript Collection) Gloria Biggs (1926 - 1991)The civil rights and women’s equality movements of the 1960s helped propel woman reporters beyond their traditional roles in soft news and features. The first news story Gloria Biggs ever wrote was a wedding announcement. The groom was 79; the bride, 82. Twenty-one years later, in 1974, she was named publisher of the Melbourne Times in Florida, making her the first female publisher in the Gannett chain of 53 daily newspapers. It was a big title for a woman in 1970s; but it was just that: a title. As publisher, Biggs didn’t enjoy the same privileges as her male counterparts. She had to report to the male publisher at Cocoa Beach Today. Biggs’ role in the newsroom evolution is complex. She checked her feminism at the door. In 1968 she wrote an article advising Gannett editors on the art of capturing female readers. The piece reveals her struggle as one of the few women promoted to the higher realms of the newsroom. To get ahead, Biggs admitted, she had succumbed to the institutional mind-set of the male-dominated newsroom. “I’d like to emphasize that I’m not a feminist. I’m not like that early 20th century suffragette leaders,” she wrote in closing. “I’m glad to have men run the show.” Later in her life, Biggs had a change of heart. Among the papers that document her career in the Women and Media Collection is a copy of the Gannett article, partially covered by a post-it note to Nancy Lankford, then-director of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection. “I weep when I read the lines above on not being a feminist,” Biggs wrote, “but then realize that in 1968 that’s the way it was.” |
