This website has been created as an educational resource about women in photojournalism for the University of Montana School of Journalism.
The project is interested in understanding how women photojournalists balance work and life in such a hectic and demanding profession, where they are often called upon at moment's notice to go into the field and report, despite having other demands on their lives.
It was sparked by a visit to the School of Journalism by Cyma Rubin, producer, director, writer, and president of Business of Entertainment, and curator of the Capture the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs exhibit in Fall 2009.
When the Pulitzer Prize photography exhibit came to The University of Montana, we (journalism students) were all ecstatic to see the work of the men and women who had gone before us. It was incredible to have this body of work at our university, and the speakers who came with it to talk about what it was like to be a photojournalist in this uncertain media era.
And, as journalism students, we had the unique opportunity to have Rubin come and speak to us as well. But, in our class session with her, she unveiled some of the harsh realities of being a woman in this business, from her observations of the women she had worked with, and left us a little stunned. She said that most of the women she knew in the business didn't have relationships, and if they did get married, it ultimately ended in divorce.
Was it true that we couldn't have both a family and a career? Rubin seemed to think so. The thought distressed my colleagues and me. Surely it wasn't true across the board. There had to be some women who were able to make a go of having it all, right? So, I began to interview women in the field, focusing on those in Montana, to find out what they had to say on the matter of balancing relationships, family and work while being active photojournalists.
