Women's Protest Gets Results In St. Pete   

Raising charges of sexism, women at the St. Petersburg Times recently made headlines at their own newspaper.

A group of about 100 women staffers issued a report describing instances of sexual harassment, pay inequity and unequal opportunity for advancement – and now management seems to be listening.

Moving quickly to defuse what could have been an explosive situation, Times Editor and President Andrew Barnes responded by saying, "We will not tolerate any discrimination." But he went beyond lip service, outlining a specific plan and setting deadlines to deal with the problems affecting women, who make up 41 percent of the full-time staff of the Times news operation.

"I think they were pretty much shocked by what we had to say," says reporter Jennifer L. Stevenson. "And they acted accordingly."

The women, some of whom were from Times Publishing Co.'s Florida Trend magazine, collected data showing the bylines of male reporters were twice as likely to appear on Page One. Women, meantime, were relegated to the regional sections of the newspaper and were more apt to pull weekend duty.

When a riot broke out at a local housing project, two women reporters were denied the assignment because a male editor deemed it "too dangerous." When war began in the Persian Gulf, the Times sent a relatively inexperienced male photographer because sending a woman was considered "a problem."

The women reported that sexual harassment and lewd comments were rife. One male supervisor told a reporter that the reason she was getting good assignments and raises was because another manager had "the hots for her." Another told a pregnant staffer, "Your breasts are really getting huge." And yet another supervisor told a woman she would "have to choose between being a mommy and being a journalist."

The report also pointed out the obvious: Although several section editors and an assistant managing editor at the newspaper are women, all top news management jobs at Times Publishing are held by men. Moreover, only one of the company's 12 directors is a woman.

" Times management has become precisely the kind of exclusive, all-white, all-male club that we lambaste in our editorial pages," the report noted.

The irony was not lost on the Times , which takes pride in its liberal reputation. Since the report was issued this summer, the paper fired the supervisor responsible for the most scurrilous comments. It also set up an anti-harassment policy, wrote a pamphlet detailing impermissible language and behavior and began sensitivity training. Barnes promised the paper would consider women and minority candidates for promotions and special projects and start a career development program. Additionally, the paper is reexamining its policies about flextime, job sharing and paid and unpaid leave.

And a newspaper-wide committee has been set up to make sure the changes are implemented promptly. The Times has even covered the internal strife on its own metro pages.

Meanwhile, where women once were afraid to discuss the discrimination they faced – except among themselves – they are now confronting it openly. "That's the way it should be," says Jeanne Grinstead, the newspaper's "Perspective" editor and one of the group's organizers. "We are, after all, in the business of communication."