September 21, 1918 - Kay Rex - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Early Canadian female reporter Kay Rex born in Woodstock. Kathleen Amelia Rex was born on September 21, 1918 in Woodstock, Ontario. “Kay,” as she was called, had an interest in writing from a young age, inspired by her aunt Frances Kay Montgomery, who taught French at the University of Western Ontario. Right after university, Rex began work with the local daily newspaper, the Woodstock Sentinel. After a year she began work with Canadian Press in its Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto bureaus from 1942 until 1953. She then worked at the CBC before moving to Mexico City, where she worked as a freelance journalist. When she joined The Globe and Mail in 1959, she had experience working on women’s issues and that is where she spent much of her time. Rex was able to bring attention to issues that today are commonplace, but back then, were not. She wrote about daycare, poverty, health and peace and the emerging women’s movement. As a woman in a man’s world of journalism, she had to work hard to get her stories on or near the front pages. Rex stayed at the Globe until 1983, then began work on a book that chronicled women journalists. Back when she’d first applied for a job at the London Free Press, the managing editor had said, “I’d never let a daughter of mine become a reporter.” More than four decades later, Rex published her book, No Daughter of Mine: The Women and History of the Canadian Women’s Press Club, 1904-1971. Her book tells wonderful stories about the early years of women in journalism. Kay Rex died in Toronto on July 10, 2006 at the age of 87.

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