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.
Lila Morris, AV
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