Secretaries also had to keep up with certain rules, mainly about their physical appearance and presence. Some of the rules of upkeep included maintaining good posture, smiling constantly, and being well-dressed, while behavioral requirements included keeping a nice voice, not talking about oneself too much, and never expecting a promotion. These rules perpetuated the idea that women were meant to be subordinate to men and only could maintain a low level of work.
It is quite ironic that, while the US was fighting for freedom and democracy in the war, the freedom and rights of the people back at home were still minimal for certain groups. As seen in the "double V" idea and the later Civil Rights Movement, people were not willing to have American remain a segregated and discriminatory country. Additional to the protests against racism, gender equality also became a concept that people fought for. Seeing women's freedom reverse after the war, it is easy to see the logic: if women were able to work during the war, what was stopping them from doing so now and pursuing other rights?
Thankfully, so far into the future from the 1950s, we have made large strides in women's rights and equality in the workplace, and sexism is barely an issue in the workplace today.
Right? :/
Sources:
https://www.littlethings.com/rules-for-being-secretary/
https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2013/04/22/flashback-secretaries-of-the-1950s-and-1960s-do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-be-one/
This is such an interesting and relevant topic. It's fascinating to see how the encouragement for women in the work force significantly scaled back in the 1950s compared to WWII times. The scary part is, we're still fighting those kinds of sexist tendencies in workplaces today. If you're interested- I wonder if that has anything to do with the media, I found a really cool link about how the media played a role in women's rights throughout the Great Depression and World War II, check it out: http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1988-9/preston.htm
ReplyDeleteNice post! As Megan said this is so relevant to what women are fighting for today in the workplace. It's very interesting that women were expected to know that there would be no promotion for their work no matter how good they were at their job, showing the male perception of the quality of female work and intelligence. Men also set very specific requirements for their secretaries besides smiling and speaking nicely, they also were expected to have a certain hair length, wear lipstick and wear colors that did not distract their boss. But even working in these demeaning jobs, women were able to make some important contributions to the modern world. Bette Nesmith Graham was a secretary that invented white out and profited hugely off it. For more information about secretaries' requirements and successes: http://americacomesalive.com/newsletter-archive/office-life-9-to-5-october-2009/
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ReplyDeleteVery creative idea for a post! The post was very informative as to the struggles women went through to get and keep jobs. The post is also very relevant as workplace discrimination against women is still very present (As seen by the gender pay gap). I wonder if the pay gap will close and how long it will take if it does.
Deletehttp://www.payscale.com/data-packages/gender-pay-gap