Only days after her husband’s first inauguration, Eleanor Roosevelt took a continued stand to support women and their careers. As women reporters were banned from attending and covering the president’s press conferences, Mrs. Roosevelt held her first press conference—a first for any First Lady—on March 6,1933, for women only. There were nearly 35 women reporters in attendance; male reporters were not invited. Thus, if large publications wanted to cover the issues she spoke about, they had to employ women. These press conferences also helped expand the issues that women reporters wrote about, which typically focused on entertainment and style. Mrs. Roosevelt’s press conferences dealt often with serious issues of the day: She was First Lady during the Depression and World War II and often spoke about economics, commerce, defense, and foreign affairs. Eleanor Roosevelt served as First Lady for just over twelve years. During that time, she held 348 press conferences.
As we now live in a time when a woman has been nominated for president by a major party, and there’s a growing number of women in politics, it’s incredible to think there once was a time when women reporters couldn’t even attend the president’s press conferences.
While we’re on the subject, here’s an interesting moment when the president only fielded questions from women reporters.
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