How Maureen Browne paved the way for women in journalism
An acceptance that mothers who go back to work are not neglecting their children has helped women smash glass ceilings and defy gender norms that inhibited their career progression, according to Maureen Browne, the first female journalist employed at one of Ireland’s oldest regional newspapers.
Speaking at UL ahead of International Women’s Day, Ms Browne, the Limerick Leader‘s first female reporter and the first National Director of Communications with the HSE, recalled life in the male-dominated 1960s media landscape.
Challenges of breaking into journalism
“Where women are concerned, there were two kinds of glass ceilings—the first where women were bypassed for promotions and top jobs because of their gender, and the second where they didn’t make it into the top jobs because of split responsibilities between childcare and work.
“Both of those ceilings have now been smashed by powerful women who proved they were at least as good and probably better than men at their jobs, and by the advent of structured childcare and the acceptance that mothers who go back to work are not neglecting their children.”
Through her trailblazing career, Maureen Browne proved that gender would not define her ability to succeed in what were once considered male professions.
After the Limerick Leader, she worked at the Irish Press, reported on Irish affairs for a number of overseas papers, and edited The Irish Medical Times.
In her talk to UL students, titled “Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women in Journalism and Communications”, Ms Browne recalled two occasions when she felt discriminated against as a woman—once when she tried to get her first journalism job at the Limerick Leader, and once when she was covering a murder in Dublin Docklands for the Irish Press newspaper.
The reality of being a woman in journalism
“Buoyed by the fact that the Leader had published a few pieces I had written, I dropped in to see if they would have any vacancies for a would-be reporter. The editor himself kindly saw me but told me sadly that he hadn’t any vacancies and wasn’t anticipating any. But I got the distinct impression that if he had a vacancy, he wouldn’t be giving it to a 19-year-old female,” she recalled.
When covering a murder on the Dublin Docklands for the Irish Press, a security guard told Ms Browne she couldn’t enter the area because women were not allowed into the docks after midnight. She recalled asking him if he thought she looked like a prostitute and, after a “few choice words,” he let her pass through, saying that “from her language, she was definitely no lady.”
Speaking about working in journalism as a woman, she said it “confers a great advantage on journalists.”
“People are inclined to confide all kinds of things to a woman, which they wouldn’t dream of telling a man. Either they think we are harmless, or it’s the way we ask the questions, or maybe the way we listen.”
She also warned that journalism requires a lot of hard work, persistence, courage, and “above all, luck.”
Breaking big stories and overcoming barriers
This was true for Ms Browne when she got the first scoop regarding the 1987 case of Dublin dentist John O’Grady, who was kidnapped by Dessie O’Hare and had two fingers chopped off. While passing two guards, she overheard them discussing the case and discovered that O’Grady’s fingers had been found in Carlow Cathedral. Ms Browne strategically dropped her bag to eavesdrop on more information about the case and was able to break the story before anyone else.
Ms Browne said she “learned about journalism the hard way” and was given no sympathy if she was stuck on a story or because she was “a woman in a man’s world.” Though the journalism industry was difficult for women, she overcame the challenges she faced, breaking big stories.
She also recalled bringing her four-week-old baby daughter to a job interview for The Irish Medical Times. The owner of the paper, Labour TD and GP Dr John O’Connell, said he would give the baby a bottle if she wrote the lead story. She got the job, and her new boss told her she should bring her child to work anytime.
A lasting impact on media and communications
Ms Browne left journalism to become the first-ever Director of Communications for the Health Service. She currently runs Hartcliffe Communications, a media management and public affairs consultancy, and serves as editor of The Consultant (the official journal of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association) and Health Manager (the official journal of the Health Management Institute of Ireland).