Does Murdoch's <em>Wall Street Journal</em> Have A Problem With Women?

There's hardly a newsroom in America whose female denizens haven't at at some point described it -- usually with some fairness -- as a boys' club. But has The Wall Street Journal become more of one since Rupert Murdoch bought it?

Some at the paper have begun to say so, albeit quietly, in the weeks since managing editor Robert Thomson put his leadership team in place. In the new desk structure introduced last month, all five of the top editors in charge of daily news operations -- Thomson, senior deputy m.e. Mike Miller, and deputy m.e.'s Nik Deogun, Matt Murray and Mike Williams -- are men.

As that shuffle was going on, Laurie Hays, the deputy managing editor in charge of investigations, was leaving for a job at Bloomberg. Her departure -- said to be at least partly the result of marginalization from above -- left the paper with only two women among its nine deputy m.e.'s, neither of them with a news job: Alix Freedman, the editor in charge of standards and ethics, and Cathy Panagoulias, who oversees staffing.

And then there was the recent buyout of Carol Hymowitz, the management columnist who doubles as the paper's point person on women's workplace issues. "She's a mentor to scores of young women at the paper, and routinely takes them under her wing," says one colleague.

Put it all together and you have, if not the makings of a clear pattern, then at least a confluence worthy of comment -- especially in light of the questionable sexual politics at other Murdoch-owned outlets.

Read more on Portfolio.com