Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook215 pages4 hours
Woman'S Place Is At The Typewriter
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
"Compelling. It serves as a lesson and a warning, for it might disabuse many women of their notion that the first step toward the executive ladder is at a typewriter. Certainly [it] suggests MBAs for aspiring women, rather than Smith-Coronas."
--Boston Sunday Globe
In most societies, a sexual division of labor is usually regarded as "natural." Thus, in the United States today not only does it seem proper that woman's place is at the stove, or with the children, or in the classroom, or at the typewriter, but it also seems "natural" it was always so. Looking at clerical workers, the author shows how work once performed by men became redefined as "women's work." She explores this shift in the context of patriarchal social relations and political-economic forces. The interaction of which determined woman's place in the office.
Before 1900, male clerical workers, as apprentice capitalists, performed a wide variety of tasks that helped them learn the business. By 1930, the class position of clerical workers had changed, and autonomous male clerks were transformed into working class females--a "secretarial proletariat."
Based on business histories, corporation records, correspondence. and even fiction. Dr. Davies' work demonstrates how the feminization of clerical work is historically specific rather than ordained by nature; how it reflects the peculiar forms which patriarchy have assumed in the United States; and how the working class status of contemporary office workers began to take shape at the end of the nineteenth century.
From the time the first female office worker was hired by US Treasurer General Elias Spinner during the Civil War and it became apparent that female labor was cheaper than male, women became increasingly visible in the office. The author accounts for this by discussing the decrease in productive work in the home, the perceived higher status of office work, and the better working conditions in offices. She also looks at scientific office management, which crystallized labor specialization and helped eliminate worker control over work. Examining the role of the private secretary, she concludes this apparently more attractive position served to mask the realities of typical office work.
Perhaps the most interesting conclusion reached in this book is that the degradation and the proletarianization of office work were disguised by the shift from male to female workers. The nineteenth-century clerk has not turned merely into a proletarian: he had turned into a woman.
"One of the first books to tackle this important topic and as such admirably begins to fill the gap. . . . A critical contribution."
--The Journal of American History
"Lively reading. Davies' review of the impact of the typewriter proves a useful perspective for those trying to evaluate the impact of the word processor on social roles and labor markets in the 1980s."
--Choice
--Boston Sunday Globe
In most societies, a sexual division of labor is usually regarded as "natural." Thus, in the United States today not only does it seem proper that woman's place is at the stove, or with the children, or in the classroom, or at the typewriter, but it also seems "natural" it was always so. Looking at clerical workers, the author shows how work once performed by men became redefined as "women's work." She explores this shift in the context of patriarchal social relations and political-economic forces. The interaction of which determined woman's place in the office.
Before 1900, male clerical workers, as apprentice capitalists, performed a wide variety of tasks that helped them learn the business. By 1930, the class position of clerical workers had changed, and autonomous male clerks were transformed into working class females--a "secretarial proletariat."
Based on business histories, corporation records, correspondence. and even fiction. Dr. Davies' work demonstrates how the feminization of clerical work is historically specific rather than ordained by nature; how it reflects the peculiar forms which patriarchy have assumed in the United States; and how the working class status of contemporary office workers began to take shape at the end of the nineteenth century.
From the time the first female office worker was hired by US Treasurer General Elias Spinner during the Civil War and it became apparent that female labor was cheaper than male, women became increasingly visible in the office. The author accounts for this by discussing the decrease in productive work in the home, the perceived higher status of office work, and the better working conditions in offices. She also looks at scientific office management, which crystallized labor specialization and helped eliminate worker control over work. Examining the role of the private secretary, she concludes this apparently more attractive position served to mask the realities of typical office work.
Perhaps the most interesting conclusion reached in this book is that the degradation and the proletarianization of office work were disguised by the shift from male to female workers. The nineteenth-century clerk has not turned merely into a proletarian: he had turned into a woman.
"One of the first books to tackle this important topic and as such admirably begins to fill the gap. . . . A critical contribution."
--The Journal of American History
"Lively reading. Davies' review of the impact of the typewriter proves a useful perspective for those trying to evaluate the impact of the word processor on social roles and labor markets in the 1980s."
--Choice
Unavailable
Related to Woman'S Place Is At The Typewriter
Related ebooks
Short Skirts And Shorthand: Secretaries In The 1970s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQueer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTransition House, 1976-2017: The Movement and the Mainstream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDesire for Development: Whiteness, Gender, and the Helping Imperative Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFOR-GET: Identity, Media, and Democracy in Chile Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen and the Subversion of the Community: A Mariarosa Dalla Costa Reader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Politics of Manhood: Profeminist Men Respond to the Mythopoetic Men's Movement (And the Mythopoetic Leaders Answer) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving with History / Making Social Change Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Before and After Gender: Sexual Mythologies of Everyday Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWoman's Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An Infinity of Interpretations: A Bit of Social Commentary on and a Philosophical Examination of Life in These Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Women Aren't Persons Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMining Coal and Undermining Gender: Rhythms of Work and Family in the American West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: An Illustrated History of Labor in the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women Between Two Worlds: Midlife Reflections on Work and Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen in 1900: Gateway to the Political Economy of the 20th Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivine Design: God's Complementary Roles for Men and Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madam Secretary: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Going Global: Culture, Gender, and Authority in the Japanese Subsidiary of an American Corporation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStill a Man's World: Men Who Do Women's Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thinking In Time: The Uses Of History For Decision Makers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Misogyny Factor Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Vocational Guidance for Girls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCracked: How Telephone Operators Took on Canada’s Largest Corporation ... And Won Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Structural Approach to Direct Practice in Social Work: A Social Constructionist Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne Dimensional Woman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Artist and the Trinity: Dorothy L. Sayers’ Theology of Work Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNever Married Women Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Living When Everything Changed: My Life in Academia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Training For You
The Everything Grant Writing Book: Create the perfect proposal to raise the funds you need Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Millionaire Real Estate Investor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Millionaire Real Estate Agent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Buy A Business With No Money Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Job Interview Phrase Book: The Things to Say to Get You the Job You Want Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Career Tests Book: 10 Tests to Determine the Right Occupation for You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Disease to Please: Curing the People-Pleasing Syndrome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Lie to Me: The Revolutionary Program to Supercharge Your Inner Lie Detector and Get to the Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Electronic Shorthand: An Easy-To-Learn Method Of Rapid Digital Note-Taking Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organizaion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SECURITIES INDUSTRY ESSENTIALS EXAM STUDY GUIDE 2022 + TEST BANK Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Practice Makes Perfect Mastering Writing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mean Girls at Work: How to Stay Professional When Things Get Personal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Endless Referrals, Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Make Every Man Want You: or Make Yours Want You More) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Insulin-Resistance Diet--Revised and Updated: How to Turn Off Your Body's Fat-Making Machine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Socratic Selling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of the Tween Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5HOLD: How to Find, Buy, and Rent Houses for Wealth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Woman'S Place Is At The Typewriter
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
1 rating0 reviews