On the same day, two newspaper bosses quit their jobs: Natalie Nougayrède, Director of the French daily Le Monde and Jill Abramson, Managing Editor of the New York Times. In both cases, management methods that were sometimes too forceful were put forward.
To what point do you display authority when holding a management position and are also a woman? Natalie Nougayrède and Jill Abramson have not found the answer to this question. They have both just resigned their management positions at Le Monde and the New York Times. Their appointments had been acclaimed by their respective newsrooms. But after fifteen months on the job for one and three years for the other, they had to give up. Among the reasons given: their management method was considered too forceful.
Two uncompromising women
In an article published in La Presse, Natalie Nougayrède is described as authoritarian, “exercising a Putinesque management style.” New York Times employees describe Jill Abramson as “condescending, stubborn, impossible” and even remark on her nasal tone of voice. However, the New York Times leader leaves with a satisfactory record, with four Pulitzer prizes and a policy of promoting women to strategic positions in a newspaper strongly dominated by men. For her part, Natalie Nougayrède has contributed to increasing the number of online subscribers to Le Monde, one of the major projects of her assignment. So are women leaders more demanding?
A difficult balance
According to Josée Boileau, Editor-in-Chief at Le Devoir, interviewed in La Presse: “Women don’t have the right to get angry.” Male leaders are more easily excused for indignation and discontent, while women leaders are expected to play to a different tune: demonstrating leadership while being pleasant and smiling, with a sense of humour at all times. This subtle balance and requirement of the professional environment partly explains why few women aspire to management positions in newspapers…