For decades, male editors told women they couldn’t be reporters because of congenital inaccuracies, or because they required having a male escort to report at night. In her new book, Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism, Brooke Kroeger provides a historical record of reporters like Ida B. Wells, Nellie Bly, and Gloria Steinem, who went ahead and did it anyway.

Kroeger spoke with NPR’s Scott Simon about how these journalists changed the industry forever, and how their legacy lives on through coverage of #MeToo and modern-day issues about gender.

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