Conference turris::womannotes-v1

    It has been my impression from my past 12 years at DEC, the last
    7 as a secretary, that most managers think of their secretaries
    as servants.
    
    Lorna
    

    Let's look at this realistically.  If a manager "allows" his secretary
    to take some initiative, most will, I have noticed, start running
    half the department, and do a damn good job of it.  The smart managers
    think of the secretary as a business woman (person), as the secretary
    can and does make a big difference.  Having done secretarial work
    in the past for DEC, (10 years ago); I was fortunate to have worked
    for managers who recognized my worth to the department.  There are
    those that don't, and it is unfortunate for both the manager and
    the secretary.  When we give secretaries the credit they deserve,
    and pay they deserve, for truly being Business Woman, maybe more
    folks will stay in the profession.
    
    Val

    Flame on, high!
    
    Yes, damn it.  I am a business woman; I am a professional; I am
    a highly educated, astute and competent person performing
    administrative work.  Just because the title DEC gives to the role
    I fill is "secretary" doesn't give anyone the right to assume I
    fetch coffee and do my nails all day.  I am an integral part of
    the business team I support.
    
    Attitude like the one that calls secretaries "non-professionals"
    or assumptions that secretaries are necessarily dumber than the
    people they support are what keeps professionals like myself in
    the financial dark ages, and allows kids from high school with no
    skills or motivation to get the same level of respect that I do
    (pretty low, except from people who know my work).
    
    Flame off
    
    Gloria

    I've been a secretary for about 5 years now.  I started because
    it was the easiest type of work to find in Geneva (particularly since
    I was able to apply as a bilingual secretary with knowledge of German 
    and Japanese).  My priority was *living* in Europe, not career.
    
    I did take care to choose my bosses well and, as a result, have been
    rewarded with a higher than average degree of responsibility.  
    
    Everyone has their own idea of what a secretary is.  This means
    that the scope of any given secretarial job can vary widely from
    the rest and is largely dependent on the attitude of the manager.
    
    I resent the current, most widespread, attitude toward secretarial work
    (that of "servant"), I resent that even I *almost* feel obliged to say 
    "I'm just a secretary" when asked what I do.  
    
    Because of the bad image of the word "secretary", people have taken 
    to creating new names (eg Personal Assistant, Admin Coordinator)
    for essentially the same job in an effort to restore dignity 
    to the work.  I understand the impetus for this but feel it is a
    mistake.  Better to change the image than to abandon the term.
    
    Now, as to changing the image ... we need to be competent at and
    proud of what we do.  

    My mother felt bad once because she was treated during Secretary
    Week--"but I'm only a steno!"  I think what she thought was a
    "secretary" was what mostly get's called in personnel files a "admin
    coordinator" (or whatever), but what most people think is a "secretary"
    is a "stenographer".  She felt bad because all she did was take
    shorthand and type reports (and her typing wasn't up much over 100
    wpm, or something just awful like that)...and enter reports into
    the pc and retrieve data from the traffic computer and take the
    detective's phone messages and file and also the normal things 
    we all do like work overtime without pay and share her baking and 
    cheery smile.  (I'm pretty sure she doesn't make the coffee, though.)
                   
    If it's any consolation to the professional women there, software
    engineering is not, strictly speaking, considered a professional
    discipline.  :-) It's still a dressed up word for programmer (grrrrrr)
    and lacks official certifying exams and all those sorts of trappings
    that real engineers can do.  (Nor can I make a decent cup of coffee
    without a menu.)