Hear tales of fight for equal rights for women journalists on June 5

In the late 1960s, women journalists finally were beginning to be hired as hard news reporters. But their treatment in salary and responsibility would probably shock today’s reporters. Ground had to be broken.

Two of those groundbreakers – Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Ann Crittenden – will appear at the National Press Club at 1 p.m. on Monday, June 5, to talk about their legal actions in 1970 against Time Inc. and Newsweek that allowed women to get bylines and close the pay gap with their male colleagues.

Norton – now best known for her decades as the District of Columbia’s delegate to the U.S. House  -- was the lead attorney in 1970 for 60 female employees of Newsweek who filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the magazine had a policy of allowing only men to be reporters.

Crittenden was a Fortune researcher who repeatedly saw her interviews with major news figures published under a man’s byline, was paid far less and had no hope of advancement. She was part of a group with her female colleagues secretly gathering signatures to file a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights.

The program will be moderated by Club President Eileen O’Reilly, managing editor for standards and training at Axios.

The program is sponsored by the Club’s History and Heritage Team and co-sponsored by American Heritage Magazine, edited by team member Edwin Grosvenor.

Admission is free for Club members and $5 for nonmembers. Reservations can be made here.