In 1970, 46 female employees at Newsweek sued their employer seeking equal treatment in the workplace. The landmark lawsuit is the real life story behind the new Amazon Studios online drama, “Good Girls Revolt,” which follows three Newsweek researchers who confront the sexism they face in the newsroom.
This month, the LMU Women’s and Gender Studies Department sponsored a screening of “Good Girls Revolt,” with special guests Darlene Hunt and Lynda Obst, the show’s executive producers. Attorney Barbi Appelquist moderated a discussion with Hunt and Obst, along with Mairead Sullivan, assistant professor of women’s and gender studies, Brianna Maturi of Student Affairs, and two LMU students.
“What made this group of women so ripe for such a lawsuit was precisely that on paper they matched the men they were working with,” said Sullivan. “They had the same educational background, the same class privileges.”
Student panelists reflected on the relevance of the show’s themes in their lives as young women today. “Overt forms of discrimination against women are still around,” said Makda Medhanie ’17, a health and human sciences major. “But keep in mind how that affects different intersections of a woman’s experience in different ways.”
