Built on the backs of a group of women known affectionately as the "Founding Mothers," NPR is legendary for its roster of female talent. But the hotbed for women journalists was borne of necessity, not idealism. When NPR was founded in 1971, many news outlets were openly hostile to the very notion of hiring female correspondents. The fledgling organization offered salaries so low that few men were willing to take jobs there. The inadvertent result was a group of young female employees now considered among the most respected names in radio: Nina Totenberg, Cokie Roberts, Linda Wertheimer, and Susan Stamberg. They sat in a corner of the newsroom the men referred to as "the fallopian jungle," and swiftly became the broadcaster's earliest stars. Wertheimer, shown second from left at the studio in 1972, was the first director of All Things Considered.
