No Job for a Woman

Gr 9 Up—This documentary, narrated by actress Julianna Marguiles, concentrates on the lives of three groundbreaking women reporters who were among the 141 female war correspondents during World War II: wire-service reporter Ruth Cowan; magazine reporter Martha Gelhorn (perhaps better known today as Ernest Hemingway's second wife); and photographer Dickey Chapelle. While it's common today to see women reporting from war zones, in the 1940s the few women journalists in the press corps were consigned to reporting for the "women's section" of the newspaper. The three women profiled here wanted to be where the action was, even if it meant sneaking aboard a hospital ship to be able to cover D-Day, as in the case of Gelhorn, or defying orders to capture photographs of wounded Marines from Iwo Jima, photos so powerful that Life magazine refused to run them. Each of these fascinating women's stories is recreated by using actors in period costume reading from their letters and other writings, as well as by incorporating moving archival footage and stills from the era. Contemporary women war correspondents are also interviewed, as are academics who place these women's accomplishments into historical perspective. The filmmaker also emphasizes the legacy of these pioneers, who changed not only the role of women in journalism, but also how war was reported by portraying its collateral damage on civilian populations rather than just tactics and battles. This outstanding film would be an excellent title for Women's History Month or for high school American history classes.—Margo Tanenbaum, Rancho Cucamonga Public Library, CA