Angela Greiling Keane on turning knowledge into power

Angela Greiling Keane

JAWS President

A little more than a decade ago, because of JAWS, I doubled my paycheck – and caught up to a man’s salary.

As a Gen X reporter, I truly believed that the pioneering women who’d come before me had fixed the wage gap. Then I found out that a man hired the same time as I was hired, with completely equivalent credentials and experience, was making twice what I was making. I was stunned. And I had no idea what to do about it.

Fortunately, just a week or so later, I was going to CAMP. I spent every minute there sharing my conundrum with wise JAWS women including Dawn Garcia, asking for advice. They helped me see how to have some tough conversations in the newsroom when I got back to work. I largely got it fixed. I have never let that happen again. And I keep my experience in mind when hiring and paying other women.

That’s why I’m now your JAWS president. I am determined to pay that support forward so that every woman in journalism gets treated fairly. Our elders made enormous progress. But in 2023, we still desperately need JAWS to advocate for women (all of us!) in journalism: calling out pay disparity, getting more women into newsroom leadership, exposing the quiet harassment online and in person that disproportionately affects women. And all that goes triple for women of color, immigrant women, and other disfavored groups.

We have a lot of initiatives underway. You’ll hear more as the months go on. But to get anything done, we need funds. As a nonprofit, JAWS depends on donations. JAWS needs your help to advocate for women in journalism – and to keep supporting each other behind the scenes.

Anything you can afford to give will help (especially if you can give monthly!). Only you know if you can give $25, $25/month, or $2,500. Or maybe you could ask for donations to JAWS in lieu of gifts for your birthday, the holidays or whatever you celebrate.

Please give what you can. Let’s keep JAWS alive for the next wave of young women journalists — and for each other.