Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1983)
The Pros and cons of Secretaries’ Day yea or nay? Year-around respect, not a tribute for hard lunch and bouquet,needed work or an excuse for low wages? Guest Opinion By Peggy C. Haynes The Print looks at this week from the point>of-view of some local secretaries. By Shelley Ball Of The Print Secretaries’ Week got underway Monday, and today is officially declared Secretaries’ Day. In conjunction with Secretaries Week, 20 Clackamas Community Col lege secretaries were surveyed by The Print to get their opi nions on the subject. The survey asked the secretaries two basic questions, whether or not they thought Secretaries’ Week is a just reward for their year-round hard work, and if they had any plans for celebrating during the week. Five secretaries said they either had or have plans to celebrate, five said they did not, and the remaining 10 said they had no plans at present but were anticipating some in the near future. Four basic responses were compliled from the reward question, with each one draw ing a consistent five votes. One secretary , Jean Marshall of the music department, declined to comment because she did not want to be “quoted off the top of my head,” but Maxine Chaney, secretary of planning and operations made up for her response by giving two answers to the reward ques tion. Chaney said she is rewarded throughout the year by “being given consideration. I’m a person, not just a secretary,” she said. Chaney also said Secretaries’ Week is nice, but overall secretaries should be given more con sideration throughout the year instead of for one week, one of the four basic responses given during the survey. Some secretaries had no qualms at all about Secretaries’ Week and thought it a just reward for their efforts. “I think it always makes me feel special,” Kim Faddis, testing secretary, said. All the secretaries who answered this way attributed it to the recogni tion their bosses have given them during Secretaries Week. “I think it’s nice that they remember at all,” PE, Health & Athletics ' Secretary Lynn Vaught said. “Generally, the College appreciates its Wednesday April 27, 1983 secretaries,” Vivian Thole, divi sion secretary for health, PE and human services added. “I think jt (Secretaries Week) is not necessary. I ac cept the job on a salary level, and I think it’s gravy we really don’t need.” Nancy Paterson, agriculture, horticulture depart ment and media center secretary said. She is one of five others who formed the third basic response to the survey. Communications & The atre Arts Secretary Barbara Bragg thought Secretaries’ Week is promoted too much, and for an on-campus example she mentioned Monday’s an nouncement in the Today bulletin to buy roses from Phi Beta Lamda, to give to secretaries. “It’s. trumped up and little embarrassing, and it puts undue pressure on bosses (to buy for secretaries),” she said. “It depends on who you work for. If the boss does something because he feel she has to, then no, it?s not a just reward,” Paulette Willis, math and English secretary added. The five remaining secretaries were grouped under the response that they, like Secretaries’ Week, although they don’t expect it as a reward, but rather consider it a “gracious gesture.” Gloria Tomlin, executive secretary to the president said, “It’s not a matter of reward, but of courtesy.” “I think my paycheck, and the satisfaction from doing a good job is a nice reward,” Gale Wall, admissions secretary said. Joanne Truesdell, also an admissions secretary, said “It’s a nice gesture. I don’t view it as a reward. A good reward would be a pay increase.” MaryAnn Pieson, art department secretary, con siders Secretaries’ Week to be a “kind of recognition,” rather than a reward. She also sug gested that the title “secretary” be changed, since the name has many different connota tions linked to it. “It could mean just sitting at a desk answering a phone, to much more,” Pierson said. Having been employed as a secretary for most of my adult working life, I have come to the conclusion that National Secretary’s Day was invented to relieve “Corporate America’s” guilty feelings for treating their secretaries like servants the rest of the year. “Forgive me, America, for I have sinned. I have treated my secretary like a second-class citizen all year.” “Buy your secretary lunch or send her a nice bouquet of flowers once a year and you will be forgiven, Mr. Executive.” Restaurants with expensive lunches and flower shops saw dollar signs dancing before their eyes and an institution was born. Granted, there are some bosses who know the value of a good secretary and give them the same respect they would any pro fessional. I also recognize the fact that we have come some distance from being the “honey” who makes coffee and the “dear” who picks up a birthday gift for a wife. However, there are still many bosses who ex pect much more from the “girl in the office” than they do from any other co-worker, but because we don’t have initials after our title in dicating a college degree they look at us as though we have grown two heads when we have an independent thought. Secretary’s Day can be very disparaging when your boss makes remarks such as “Is it that time of year again, already?” and “I sup pose I should do something.” You expected response is a bat of your eyelashes and a supressed giggle. I’d rather they forget the whole thing than go through that humiliating experience. And yes, I know, no one is twisting my arm and forcing me to be a secretary. But that is hardly the point. I like my work and I’m proud of what I accomplish, it’s the “you cer tainly don’t expect me to make my own copies.” attitude that belittles my position and irritates me. I have read my job description several times and nowhere do I read that I’m suppos ed to be a cheerleader, babysitter, and gofer, but most days, that’s how I feel. Addendum: (Peggy C. " Haynes is a secretary employed by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oregon) Secretaries need respectlnot roses To The Editor: With Secretary’s Week upon us, I suggest the following theme^ instead of roses or lunch: RAISES, RIGHTS AND RESPECT. The National Committee on Working Women, a non profit organization, has done research which shows that: -The work of secretaries and clerical workers is under valued and underpaid. -Credit for their contribu tion to the organization is often misplaced, and rewards of both status and money go to others, i -“Team building” is an ex clusive management theory that does not utilize the skills and efforts of secretaries. -Many secretaries feel “underemployed,” their abilities far exceed the work they do, and since the occupa tion offers little chance for ad vancement, it causes stress and frustration. Sandra Porter, executive director of the NCWW, said in the April 24th Oregonian, that “New technology is making sweeping changes in the office of the ’80’s. It is time for the in appropriate courtship of secretaries with yearly deliveries of candy and flowers to pass into history with the standard typewriter.” The NCWW, which fo cuses on the needs of the femalè work force, said 16 million women worked in clerical occupations in 1982, but female clerical workers are paid far less then their male counterparts. A raise may not be ap propriate in these budget conscious times, but the women’s rights and respect for their significant part of this col lege’s operation need to be brought to the forefront. A sampling of these two “R’s”: RIGHTS. -To make equal pay for equal responsibility in stead of 59 cents to the man’s dollar. -Acknowledgment for the fact that women have families to support, often alone. -To speak our minds and opinions and be counted. -To NOT be taken for granted; -To be understood and judged 1 on human terms, not by male standards. -To be referred to as women, not “girls.” RESPECT. -For always being there for whatever is needed. -For handling stressful situations. -For screening phone calls and visitors for those whose time is “more im portant.” -For typing and tak ing dictation from others (usually male) and making the coffee. -For looking good on the “front line.” -For bringing warmth and a little softness to a “man’s world.” With this theme in mind, let us all keep in mind the im portance of the working women for the whole year, not just one week. 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