The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Features thousands of biographic and thematic essays on Jewish women around the world. Learn more

Jill Abramson

b. March 19, 1954

by JWA Staff
Our work to expand the Encyclopedia is ongoing. We are providing this brief biography for Jill Abramson until we are able to commission a full entry.

Jill Abramson at a 2012 panel discussion at Alice Tully Hall.

Courtesy of the US Department of Labor/Wikimedia Commons.

As the first female executive editor of the New York Times from 2011–2014, Jill Abramson fought to change the newspaper’s culture, mentoring female reporters, choosing female bureau chiefs and focusing more attention on stories about race and gender issues. While still an undergraduate, Abramson both served as arts editor for the Harvard Independent and worked for Time Magazine from 1973–1976. After graduating Radcliffe and Harvard in 1976, she became senior staff reporter for the American Lawyer. In 1986 she became editor-in-chief of Washington, DC’s Legal Times, then worked for the Wall Street Journal from 1988–1997, rising to become deputy bureau chief. She then joined the staff of the New York Times in 1997, becoming their Washington bureau chief in 2000 and executive editor in 2011. From 2000–2001 she also taught at Princeton University. In 2014 Abramson was fired from the New York Times amidst controversy over whether she was being discriminated against for her gender, but she refused to comment on the issue, saying only that she had been proud to work for the Times.

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Jill Abramson." (Viewed on September 22, 2023) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/abramson-jill>.

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