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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1979)
Portland Observar Thursday. Juna 7,1979 Page 6 Poll finds secretaries bored, dissatisfied T he N a tio n a l C om m ission on W orking Women (N C W W ) recently released results from the responses of secretaries to the National Survey o f W orking Women conducted during F a ll 1978 in num erous n a tio n a l women's magazines and labor union publications. Findings from 19,000 secretaries indicate: • Sixty per cent didike their lack o f advancement on the jo b — a feeling described as working in a dead-end job by many secretaries; • Fifty-five per cent said their job doesn’ t pay enough, 7 7 % o f separated and divorced secretaries with dependent children and 65% o f never married secretaries especially agree; • Fifty per cent have no time for leisure. This is especially true for 59% o f m arried secretaries w ith dependent children; • Forty-eight per cent need more help at home. Including 6 8 % o f m a rrie d and 6 0 % o f divo rced secretaries responding the same. Other problems that 40% or more o f the secretaries reported indicate: • they have a burden o f jo b and family; • they can not afford to quit their jobs, even though they might like to quit; • their job is boring; • they have no chance to trrin for a better job; and, • they have no time to continue their education; • their jo b does not really use their skills. One-fourth o f all secretaries report ed that sex discrim ination was a p ro blem and th at th e ir health benefits were not satisfactory. W o rkin g conditions, the w o rk- itself, treatment by boss, layoffs and unemployment, the difficulty o f the jo b , husbands opposed to working and transportation were reported by 20% or less o f secretaries as problem areas. When commenting on the results o f the survey, N C W W C h a ir, E lizabeth Duncan K oontz stated: “ These findings focus on the fact that most women have two jobs, the unpaid work goes on before, during and after the paid work. Sometimes these double responsibilities keep wom en isolated and lackin g in energy to solve their work related problems. “ W om en who are the p rim a ry family earners simply can’t make ends meet (on an office workers salary) . . . 77% say so. U ntil some equity is established w ith in jo b evaluation systems and wages are adjusted ac c o rd in g ly , to o m any A m e ric an families are in economic jeopardy,” Koontz continued. Respondents were also asked ab ou t th e ir jo b satisfactio n and overall life satisfaction, as far as money and what they are able to have are concerned. In this survey, as in all others which have been conduct ed in the past, the m a jo r ity o f women expressed satisfaction with their jobs. Thirty-eight per cent o f secretaries said they like their jobs very much and 40% said they like their jobs fairly well. Sixteen per cent disliked their jobs somewhat and 5% reported great dislike for their jobs. Among secretaries there appears to be a sharp v a ria tio n in jo b satisfaction related to educational at tainment. Most dissatisfied o f all are secretaries who are college graduates. Presumably, these women are over qualified for their positions and feel underutilized in their jobs. A bout one-third o f all secretaries who are college graduates or above dislike their jobs as compared with about one-fifth o f the women who had completed high school or one to three years o f college. Thirteen per cent o f the secretaries said they were very satisfied with their way o f life, 51 % said they were s a tis fie d , 3 1% said they were somewhat dissatisfied and 5% said they were very dissatisfied. There is a s trik in g association between jo b satisfaction and satisfaction with way o f life. Among those secretaries who said they like their jo b le ry much, only 24% reported either mild or serious dissatisfaction with their life; this proportion rose to 37% for those who like their jo b somewhat, 53% for those who dislike their jo b somewhat, and 63% for those who dislike their iob verv much. The survey was designed to iden tify the problems, needs and concerns o f American women. It was conduct ed through G o o d H ousekeeping, W o rk in g W om an, M S m agazine, W o m a n 's D a y , Essence, The Women's Agenda, Personal Romance and L a d y 's C irc le as w ell as numerous national and local union p u b lic a tio n s . N C W W received 150,000 completed questionnaires. O f these, 110,000 were coded and tabulated including nearly 83,000 questionnaires from women who were doing paid work at the time for the survey and 28,000 women who were working in their homes, doing unpaid volunteer work or unem ployed. In addition to receiving the results o f the survey, N C W W received thousands o f unsolicited letters from women about their jo b and jo b - related problems. A woman from New Jersey wrote: “ I have been thinking about it (women’s work) for a long time, but I honestly feel it’s about time something is done and done quickly. I for one have been put down in more ways than I ’d like to remember . . . I answered an ad asking for a Gal Friday. What they really wanted was a Gal Monday, Tuesd ay, W ednesday, T h u rs d a y , ft Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all for $3.00 an hour.” A C a lifo rn ia reader responded: “ The American way o f living simply does not provide any realistic way for an unmarried woman to earn a liveable wage and maintain a viable family unit. The child care expense along ptohibits women from fu r thering educational/training goals. I gave up my 10 and 11 year old children to their father in order to go back to school. There was no other way. The U .S . policy on families and children leaves much to be desired.” The report o f the full Survey will be released sometime soon and will include inform ation on responses by each occupation, union status, racial b reakd o w n s, ed u c a tio n , m a rita l status, fam ily income and individual earnings. more per week; 5% worked at full time jobs but were employed for less than 35 hours per week and 12% worked part-time. Virtually all o f the respondents had at least a high school education. About one-third had fo u r years o f a high school education, about one-half had com pleted one to three years o f college and 15% were college graduates. About 40% o f the secretaries were m arried and liv in g w ith th e ir husbands and one or more depen dent children. A n additional 30% were living with their husbands but did not have any children in the household. The remaining 30% were about equally divided between those who had never been married and those who were widowed, divorced Over 80% o f the secretaries who responded to the q u estio n n aire worked fu ll time for 35 hours or The average earnings fo r the secretaries surveyed were ab ou t $8,500. «L SPORTS HOUR JOE’S PLACE 1801 N.E. A lberta W ILL DRAFT YOU FOR ONLY 150 Days: Sat., Sun. & Mon. 288-8786 W For M ors Inform ation We guarantee tomorrow today. t Life. Health. Group, and Business Insurance JOHN R. PARIS ■RnflH 700 NE Multnomah. Lloyd 700 Bldg. #400, Portland, OR. 97232. 231-4724 PRESENTING TOMORROW’S ELECTRIC SUPPLY: BRIDO** Red tape is g strangling your fu- ture power supply. J Because it ™ takes from 6 to 10 years to build anew power plant, the region’s electric suppliers were planning for today and tom orrow ’s needs in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Thirteen units were scheduled to meet dem and. Today, only two units are on schedule. Eleven units have been delayed up to nearly 6 years. When you realize during last w inter's peak dem and we almost ran short of electricity, these We Need Your Help delays are frightening. The question is: With tens of thousands of new homes each year, where will your electricity come from to morrow? Where will we get enough electricity for all the new homes and businesses? Another Day, Another Million Dollars. The cost of these endless delays is staggering Already, billions of dollars have been added to con st ruction costs. Who will have to pay these staggering We’re search ing now for new solutions to guarantee you’ll have Why Can’t We Get The Power Somewhere Else? enough electricity in the fu ture. But we need your help. Im porting power In addition to consci is no solution. The cost of entious attention to conser buying electricity from vât ion, let officia Is know your California and Canada is electric energy concerns. several tim es the cost of Participate in en generating our own. Plus, ergy decisions. Learn more that supply is unreliable — about electricity supply extra power may not be and dem and. After all, en available when we need it. ergy costs are m ounting Conservation — with every delay .. . and though a vital part of keep you’re the one footing the ing electricity dem and down — sim ply ca n ’t make up all the electricity w e’re going to need. increases? You will The People at Pacific Power