THE GIRLS IN THE BALCONY: Women, Men...

THE GIRLS IN THE BALCONY: Women, Men and the New York Times by Nan Robertson (Fawcett: $10.; 274 pp., illustrated). In this vivid mixture of history and legal debate, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nan Robertson examines the events leading up to the landmark sex discrimination suit filed against the New York Times in 1974. The background material reveals examples of sexism that seem unimaginable in the 1990s: The title refers to the balcony of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where female journalists were relegated--unable to hear the speakers or ask questions. Robertson combines firsthand impressions with interviews and statistics on just how under-represented and underpaid women were at a newspaper regarded as a bastion of enlightenment. The most telling comment in the book may have come from retired managing editor and Washington bureau chief, Clifton Daniel: After Robertson won the Pulitzer in 1983 for reporting on toxic shock syndrome, he asked, “What’s a little bitty thing like you doing winning the Pulitzer Prize?”