Resisting the Boys’ Club: Tactical Agency, Gendered Performances, and Professional Survival in Czech Political Journalism

Abstract

In the still masculinized “boys’ club” of political journalism, women are frequently cast as passive subjects of systemic exclusion. This article subverts that narrative, moving beyond traditional victim-centric frameworks to explore the granular, everyday navigation of female and male journalists within gendered professional structures. Leveraging a robust longitudinal dataset of 139 interviews across three iterative waves, we reveal how and why political journalists deploy complex strategies and tactics to secure professional survival and visibility. This approach demonstrates how specific situational triggers fluidly shape these choices in daily practice. Ultimately, this study highlights the profound ambivalence of individual agency: While these highly restricted tactical choices enable daily survival within a hostile reporting environment, they temporarily accommodate, rather than dismantle, the underlying status quo, directly underscoring an urgent need for institutional and structural evolution.