The City Journals has been named as one of the 100 Companies Championing Women. The Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, the Cox-Henderson Administration and the Utah Women & Leadership Project created the initiative in 2022, as part of the Inspire InUtah program, to recognize businesses that offer family-friendly policies and women-specific practices that advance women as managers and leaders. 

Listed in the 2024 cohort of 100 Companies Championing Women, The City Journals joins other organizations like Davis Technical College, Women of the World, Bennett Communications and Saprea. The City Journals publishes 18 community newspapers each month, along with the weekly Davis Journal. It also creates the Value Pages coupon magazine. 

“Women are imperative to our business at the Journals,” said Bryan Scott, City Journals owner and publisher. “Women make up the majority of our readership. Women make up the majority of our employees, particularly our writers. And if most homes are like mine, most of our shopping decisions are made by women, which makes it important to our advertisers.” 

State leaders believe when businesses unite in their mission to champion women, it creates a force that can reshape the corporate landscape, and change the lives of women as it paves the way for equality and empowerment. 

While Utah continues to rank as the worst state for women’s equality, the governor’s office and Inspire InUtah hopes to create a business community where women are supported, whether that’s through pay equity and childcare support, or professional development and leadership programs. 

Elizabeth Sweat, people leader at The City Journals, said the company has focused on women-friendly practices, including pay equity for all female employees.

“We are transparent about our pay,” Sweat said. “We have the same pay for all of our beat writer contractors based on their length of service and we pay our commissioned sales reps the same, based on the amount they sell. Women and men are paid the exact same for the exact position.”

The City Journals also implements recruitment strategies, focused on increasing the number of women employees, with flexible work schedules that accommodate work-from-home situations.

“Some were hesitant to say they had school drop-off or such, but I let them know that we love working moms,” she said. “Prior to COVID, we had a program called Project Homemaker where we specifically targeted stay-at-home parents. They were appointment setters that worked approximately 12 hours a week based on their children’s school schedules. That is a program that we hope to bring back soon.”

The Women’s Evolution group at The City Journals used to meet in person every month, but with so many remote workers, Sweat sends out a calendar of community and business events that women can choose to attend. The calendar also includes community resources geared toward women. 

Female employees are encouraged to find a Women in Business group based on their personal interests and schedules, although they are not required to attend because many have limited time for networking. 

The City Journals supports women in leadership positions. Currently, the sales manager is a woman, as is one of the three community newspaper editors. Full-time employees include nine women and seven men. 

“It became very evident to me a few years ago that the success of our company will be dependent on our ability to have women work for us,” Scott said. “Our journey started with our staff making sure we were building a company where women would be comfortable working. We still have a long road to go, but I think this award demonstrates the strides that we have made.”

The 2024 cohort of 100 Companies Championing Women joins the inaugural 2023 group that includes organizations like Clearfield City, Cotopaxi, Goldman Sachs and the Women’s Leadership Institute. For more information, visit InUtah.org. λ