Women Photojournalists - Trials and Triumphs

Gender stereotypes have existed for centuries, although the dividing line between men and women has been decreasing slowly but surely. Women have always been prescribed a certain "list" of occupations that are deemed to be the only ones suitable due to their perceived lower level of capabilities when compared  to men, and being a photojournalist is not one of the occupations found on that not real, yet widely accepted list. Adding to the already over-bearing "road-blocks" that come with being a women and trying to break away from the oppressive norms laid by society, are the difficulties faced by people of Jewish background, and the people whose sexual orientation does not match the standard set by society, and you have the life of Charlotte Brooks, born Charlotte Finkelstein. Charlotte was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1918 as a first generation American and found her passion for photography quite young. and by the tender age of twelve she had built a darkroom in her childhood home. Brooks' interest in expressive activities rather than scripted ones is a perfect analogy for the way she lived her life. There were many times where Brooks faced discrimination due to her Jewish inheritance, two specific moments being during her college career when she was told by a professor after a test: "you people [Jews] are supposed to be intelligent.", and again when she tried to apply to the School of Social Work at Brooklyn College: "We have a quota for people of your kind.". Following the second incident she gave up on social work, and Charlotte went on to work under Barbara Morgan, the internationally known photographer of the widely-recognized dance innovator Martha Graham, during her second stint at Bay House camp in 1942. There Charlotte worked two days a week with Morgan in Scarsdale, New York, which is where she would take a camera outdoors during her free time and would capture images  and would truly discover her passion for photography. Brooks developed her notoriety while working for almost the entire lifespan of Look Magazine, from 1951 until 1971 when the magazine shut down forcing her out of her job. Charlotte was the only female photographer at the establishment that played a serious role in the information that passed through, the other female photojournalists covered other simpler and more "female-friendly" stories.




"Two days a week, Brooks worked at Barbara's home studio in Scarsdale, New York. When she picked up a camera there to make some outdoor shots on her own, Brooks experienced what she referred to as "buck fever," comparing herself to a jittery, inexperienced hunter anticipating her first kill. Photography, she realized, was her calling. From that point on she devoted her life to it." Brooks' almost natural fascination led her to be one of the most iconic female photojournalists of the 1900's.

   Photo by: Patricia Carbine

Year Created: 1957

Texture: The space surrounding the man-hole is very dirty and rough. The space inside the man-hole around Charlotte is also very gritty and unsanitary. However, Charlotte herself is clean and looks smooth in comparison to her surroundings.

Use of Shadows: Outside the man-hole it is very bright and everything can be clearly seen. Charlotte herself, despite being in the man-hole, is brightly lit and easily seen. Inside the man-hole itself is very dark, and not really possible to see anything besides Charlotte.

Subject's expression: Charlotte is happy and smiling despite being inside of a man-hole. Charlotte is definitely posing for the camera, making the situation seem better than it really is. Despite the disgusting conditions found inside a sewer, Charlotte is not letting her surroundings dampen her mood.

Why I chose this image?: I chose this image because it shows Charlotte as a fearless photojournalist despite what stigmas she faced as a women at the time. Through out her life she faced constant discrimination and gender boundaries but she didn't let that stop her, and here she is going into an environment that is usually only associated with men. The picture like an analogy of her life, she didn't let stereotypes hold her back from what she loved to do.

 Unfortunately, photojournalism isn't the only profession where women are not treated as equals in terms of payment, number of hours, benefits, and promotional opportunities. The medical field is one of the most segregated fields, not by law, but by society's unseen and unwritten guidelines as to how things should be run and done. Whenever a nurse is depicted, it's pretty much a guarantee that the depiction will show a women, and not a man. With the reverse situation being the case for doctors. Although the gender ratio between male and females as doctors and nurses in the health science field has been decreasing, it is still a reality. Men get hired more often, they are paid more, and are promoted to a higher salary and/or position more often then women are that are in the exact same position. Although the two fields of medicine and photojournalism are completely fundamentally different, the situation faced by women in both fields is entirely the same. Even when a women is able to land a job, she has to work a lot harder than her male counterparts in order to maintain it, and often times she will not be the first to know about breaking news stories or even be selected to cover them.

The discrimination was so severe, that Marion Post Walcott, a photographer who worked at the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin during the 1900's faced unbelievable harassment from her colleagues. As Professor John Nordell describes in his video, Women Photojournalists: "She finally got a job at the Philadelphia Evening Bullet. However, the male photographers were not welcoming. Apparently they urinated in her photography chemicals, threw spitballs at her, and extinguished their cigarettes in her developing trays."

Photo by: Pat Greenhouse




Year Created: 2014

Rule of Thirds: The subject of the photograpgh is almost dead-center. The other subject, being the main hospital is also in the middle but is much bigger and paints an imposing "shadow" over the nurse. The hospital's other two buildings occupy the two other thirds of the image.

Use of Lines: The two buildings on the side are in a way pointing towards the main hospital building. The main building itself is pointing up, making it seem bigger. The side lines of the street lead up to the main hospital building.

Abstraction: The meaning of the photo is obvious due to the imposing figure of the hospital over the women walking in front. The photographer was trying to capture an image where the women was made to look puny in comparison to the hospital. The hospital in a sense is proclaiming dominance over the female nurse.

Why did I choose this image?: I chose this image because it physically represents the hurdle that women in general, but more specifically in this situation in the medical field face when it comes to getting equal pay, benefits and bonuses, and promotion opportunities. The article this image belongs to is about a female doctor losing a case of gender discrimination against the hospital. The picture almost is a way of showing the hospital as the winner in the outcome.

The idea of female photojournalists being discriminated against, along with the whole matter of discrimination of any kind, is a pitiful situation. When a photograph is taken the first question that comes to the mind of any viewer is not whether a man or a woman took it, but more about where and how it was taken. In fact, most photojournalists are aware of this, including Paul Melcher. "I’ve never been able to identify a photojournalist’s gender from the photos she takes. Have you? When Margaret Bourke-White photographed the Nazi death camps for Life magazine, no one cared if she was a woman or not. Her images told the story and that was that." Paul's point of it not mattering what the gender of a photojournalist is who happened to take history-making pictures is a strong one, and it certainly makes the sexists who don't help make photojournalist an easy field for both sides of the gender line to enter look like people who are lacking in intelligence.


Speaking of war and female photojournalists, or lack there of, women are not very common in and around warzones. Both the military and the industry of photojournalism are rife with sexism due to the supposedly too difficult tasks and jobs which are deemed not appropriate for women to be doing. With that said, it's always a huge shock to everyone, including women, when a female photojournalist is not only in a warzone documenting it with her cameras, but going in with the soldiers as they parachute out of a plane 10,000 feet in the sky. That's exactly what, at the time, 21-year old Catherine Leroy did during the Vietnam War. Catherine would suit up in the exact same clothing, armor, helmet, and parachute as the male soldiers around here. However, instead of a rifle or even a pistol, Leroy carried with her a Leica camera. "And Leroy didn’t just photograph the war from the sidelines. She jumped in feet first, literally. Thanks to a former boyfriend who taught her how to sky dive, in 1967 she was a licensed parachutist when she joined up with the 173rd Airborne Division and jumped along with them into a combat operation, becoming the only known accredited journalist – male or female – to jump into combat with American troops at war." Catherine Leroy especially captivated everyone when after she was taken hostage and given her cameras back by the North Vietnamese, she began taking pictures of them and interviewing them. Her pictures would go on to be the cover of a LIFE Magazine, and Leroy herself would go on to be the first women to win the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award for conflict photography from the Overseas Press Club in New York in 1976.

Photo by: Catherine Leroy

Year Created: 1968

In or out of focus: The focus is set perfectly on the soldier. The background is out of focus meaning all attention is drawn to the soldier. The foxhole is also in focus in order to show the conditions.

Keep it simple: The foxhole where the soldier is sitting is not cluttered. However, the background is full of trees. It depicts the immense task that the soldier faces in order to keep his position safe since any approaching enemy would have a lot of cover.

Background compliments or detracts from composition: The background does not take away from the subject. The numerous trees help set the setting. The wall shows the desire of the soldier to keep something in between himself and the tree line.

Why did I choose this image? I chose this image because it is one of the many photographs that Catherine Leroy took while in Vietnam. A surprising fact for viewers is that the soldier in this picture is actually from the North Vietnamese army, who would have been the enemy that the side Leroy was there with was fighting against. The soldier is also obviously young, and it helps depict the sad truth of war that age is often not considered a factor when it comes to fighting.