Story highlights Jill Filipovic: Women were key to ousting O'Reilly, Ailes, Shine. But that doesn't mean the old boy network will change

A woman is replacing Shine, but this presents a host of complications -- including the Glass Cliff

Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and Nairobi, Kenya, and the author of the new book "The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness." Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) Over at Fox News, great men are falling -- and women are not only the ones bringing them down, but replacing them. The latest man ousted at the network is Bill Shine, right-hand man to the disgraced former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, himself given the boot after years of sexual harassment allegations came to light (and costing Fox $20 million in a settlement payout).

Jill Filipovic

Fox News star anchor Bill O'Reilly was also fired after he was accused of sexually harassing his female colleagues, resulting in $13 million in settlements paid out by Fox and O'Reilly (Ailes and O'Reilly both deny the accusations).

Let's pause here to note that it was women, including Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and the many women who have accused O'Reilly of harassment over the years, who brought down Fox's top dogs. Whether or not this portends a new day for the old-boy network -- well, we will see.

With Ailes, O'Reilly and Shine gone, there are a few men -- Tucker Carlson replaced O'Reilly -- but the women of Fox seem to be ascending: Suzanne Scott is taking over much of Shine's role.

This, unfortunately, is typical: When companies are in crisis because of poor male leadership, that's when they tend to put women at the head. And then when the sinking ship inevitably goes down, it's a female leader, and not her male predecessors, who shoulders the blame. It's such a common occurrence that social scientists have even given it a name: The Glass Cliff.