In the late 19th century (1850s-1900), women occasionally wrote for newspapers, mostly in the literary and society pages. I've seen lots of research on the few actual journalists, like Jane Grey Swisshelm and Nelly Bly, but I'd like to know a little bit more about the women who were never able to break out from the society pages. What were attitudes like towards them? How did the men in their lives (husbands, brothers, fathers) treat them? How did other women treat them?
For starters there were very few female journalists during the era you ask about.
However your question is an interesting one, so I'll give it my best attempt, mostly though it will just point you in the right direction to learn more.
You might want to watch Women Journalists at the Turn of the 20th Century a 2016 lecture that aired on [C-SPAN] (https://www.c-span.org/video/?416372-2/women-journalists-turn-20th-century) by [Tracy Lucht] (https://www.greenlee.iastate.edu/faculty/lucht.tracy) a professor at Iowa State University.
Looking at Lucht's bio, two of publications that might be helpful are:
Although it represents a later era than your question you might want to read Lynn Povich's The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace although I believe it is more about the lawsuit than anything else. The book was turned into the 2016 Amazon series Good Girls Revolt.
I hate citing popular culture, but in many ways it is a mirror of actual society.
Take a look at the 1940 movie ["His Girl Friday"] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Girl_Friday), it features a female lead as a top reporter.
popular representations of the "intrepid girl reporter" became popular in 20th-century films and literature, perhaps most notably in "His Girl Friday".
[ source] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_journalism)
The movie is based on the 1928 play ["The Front Page"] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Front_Page) which featured all male reporters. The movie His Girl Friday takes the star and lead reporter and reimagines the role as a woman. They even kept the same gender-neutral name that appeared in the original play.
Hope this is at least somewhat helpful
Very helpful. Thanks!