Author:
Fine, Lisa M.
Imprint:Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 1990.
Descriptionxx, 249 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-241) and index.
Note:A Choice outstanding title: "As the author cogently argues, there was nothing inherently feminine about office work: for decades it had been a male-dominated occupation. But between 1870 and 1930, led by the close identification of women with the newly invented typewriter, the job became respectable women's work. And when sizable numbers of comparatively well educated women entered the office, they found that their job was demoted and devalued. The author provides abundant statistical evidence to illuminate the evolution of clerical work and its labor force, but her distinctive contribution lies in her careful depiction of the changing gender definition. Drawing upon records of reformers and technical experts, Fine highlights both the ambiguity and the complexity of this transformation. The resulting accommodation owed much to the confluence of capitalism and patriarchy, but the author unearths evidence to demonstrate that women were active agents throughout."
