Quinn on Women's Role

Women want it all--a great career, a personal relationship, and a family--but one of the three will have to suffer, Sally Quinn, reporter for the Washington Post, told a group of about 30 students at Eliot House Library yesterday.

Quinn, who writes for the Style section of the Post, said women must recognize time constraints and be willing to set priorities. "Women should be prepared to face this dilemma when they first start out," she said.

Many professional women run into this conflict in their late 30s and early 40s when they realize that the opportunity to have a baby may escape them, Quinn said.

Interdisciplinary

Journalism as a male-oriented profession creates another problem for women in the press, Quinn said. She added that very few women like editing and few are successful in those higher positions. Also women do not like to work under other women, she said.

Quinn said CBS-TV hired her because of her sex, not her skills, because she had no experience in TV. CBS wanted to have the first female news anchorwoman, she added. "It would not have happened to a man," Quinn said.

She added that there are so many good women journalists today that the media does not have to take that approach anymore. The women at the Post are far better writers than the men, she said.