Story highlights Here at CNN, it's not uncommon for women to dominate

You bring who you are to every story you cover, but you don't cover a story differently just because you are a woman

During the 1972 election, Timothy Crouse penned "The Boys on the Bus" -- a book that introduced us to the gritty (mostly male) journalists on the campaign trail. Over four decades later, the daily grind of election may be the same, but the faces have certainly changed.



Meet CNN's "Girls on the Bus."

(CNN) When I first started out covering politics, it was literally the era of the boys on the bus.

At the Washington Star, where I began as a reporter, one of my greatest thrills was being able to work in the same newsroom with Mary McGrory, who was the exception to the mostly male rule.

She was a trailblazing columnist who changed the way we look at -- and write -- about politics. I would have been honored just to carry her bags (which I often did). She was a female star, a role model -- not to mention being a brilliant writer who asked the direct questions no one else would. There weren't enough women in the newsroom then, but we were starting to sprout. The boys club was daunting, especially if you wanted to cover politics. I approached it with the sense that maybe I was trying to be initiated into a fraternity where I didn't quite belong.

But women did make the move to politics and we did belong. I was in print -- at the Star, then at Newsweek, then at U.S. News and World Report. I ironically always thought that TV was going to be my backup job. Then, of course, print started to literally disappear. And what I discovered was that the skills of being a good broadcast journalist are largely the same as being a good print journalist -- both require the same ability to report, write and explain. Those requirements have remained steadfast.

Luckily, other things are very different from back in the day. Here at CNN, it's not uncommon for women to dominate -- whether as correspondents in the field or on political panels. It's not only a different environment, it's a broader environment and I think we cover the news better because of it.

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