Dechman, Margaret

English

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h igh ly recommend her book, both its reading and its appl ica t ion, to those engaged i n the debates over porno-graphy and to those of us w h o have largely ignored the debates u p un t i l now. Joan Brockman S imon Fraser University W o m e n i n the Administrat ive Revolut ion . Graham S. Lowe , University of Toronto Press, 1987. G r a h a m Lowe 's book Women and the Administrative Revolution provides a comprehensive examination of the forces wh ich converged du r ing the early 1900s to change clerical work from a predominately male to a predomi-nately female vocation. T h r o u g h a detailed analysis of historical events and contextual factors, Lowe sheds new l igh t o n ou r understanding of the emergence of female job ghettos. T h e strength of this publ ica t ion lies i n the breadth of theoretical and empir ical discussion. Because there is no i m p l i c i t or explici t mandate to fit a l l findings into a predetermined thesis, the author is able to uncover many important and interesting insights which had hitherto been brushed over by other scholars. Unfortunately, this same thoroughness often makes Lowe's arguments diffi-cul t to fo l low. For this reason, Women and the Adminis-trative Revolution is not suitable as an introductory text for those w h o have no previous exposure to the basic historical developments i n women's work. Pertinent theoretical perspectives are combined wi th empir ica l information from census statistics and firm records to examine the feminization of clerical work i n Canada. Discussions of historical events, unique f i rm characteristics, and international comparisons wi th the Uni ted States and Bri ta in , are used to better understand the emergence of clerical work as "women's work." T h e influences of four main forces can be followed throughout the book: — the development of large-scale centralized bu-reaucracies; — the drive for mechanization, rationalization, and control i n the office; — wartime labour shortages; and — patriarchal attitudes. The Development of Large-Scale Centralized Bureaucracies T h e appearance of Corporate Capi ta l i sm forms the under lying impetus for a l l Lowe's arguments. F o l l o w i n g the lead of C. Wr igh t M i l l s , Lowe explores the increasing ratio of administrative to production workers w h i c h occurred i n Canada between the turn of the century and the start of the depression. T h e shift from small autono-mous firms to large-scale bureaucracies was accompanied by an increased demand for office workers to assist i n the regulation and control of the expanding workforces. The Drive for Mechanization, Rationalization, and Con-trol in the Office As the office wage b i l l consumed greater and greater proportions of operating expenditures, cost savings were sought through measures aimed at enhancing the produc-tivity of clerical staff. As a carry-over from the factory floor, scientific management principles were used to analyze and fragment clerical tasks. The male generalist of the 1800s became the female specialist of the 1900s. A l t h o u g h Lowe is careful to point out the drudgery experienced by some nineteenth-century clerks and the more positive w o r k i n g conditions of twentieth-century clerks, his basic thesis is that clerical work i n general became less interesting and rewarding precisely when women were welcomed into the field. Scientific manage-ment was used to control and strive for m a x i m u m produc-tivity from each ind iv idua l worker. Whi l e a few women became personal secretaries and were assigned a variety of job duties, most of the new female clerical workers per-formed monotonous tasks which were subject to precise output measurements. U n l i k e other authors who have taken a narrow deter-minis t ic view of technological change, Lowe places the introduction of office equipment, such as typewriters and adding machines, i n the context of other managerial ini t ia-tives. Mechanizat ion was used i n conjunction wi th scien-tific management principles to create specialized jobs wh ich could be easily monitored and controlled. By the 1920s it was rare to find a large office without mechanized systems of accounting and recordkeeping. The most striking changes often occurred in the cen-tralized accounting departments. It was here that rows of routine clerks mechanically transformed mountains of statistics into concise measures of productivity, costs and profits, (p. 127) Wartime Labour Shortage T h e labour shortage wh ich occurred du r ing the war served to speed the feminization process. M a n y men were unavailable for work precisely when the shift to Corporate Cap i t a l i sm created increased demands for clerical staff. W o m e n provided a readily available source of relatively well-educated workers. Patriarchal Attitudes H a v i n g discussed the economic forces wh ich prevailed, L o w e goes on to examine the social climate w h i c h also influenced the movement of women i n a hitherto male-dominated profession. T h e war effort made it respectable for women to work outside the home and clerical employ-ment evolved i n such a way that it became defined as suitable for women. As a consequence of mechanization and scientific management, clerks were no longer given the opportunity to develop or exhibit the skil ls necessary for movement into management. Thus , it was acceptable for women to perform these dead-end jobs whi le men were selected for positions wh ich offered a t ra in ing ground for more lofty endeavours. Resistance to female office workers was m i n i m a l because this new type of clerical work d i d not threaten "men's jobs." T h e words of W i l l i a m Henry Leff ingwel l , Nor th America 's leading exponent of scien-tific office management, precisely depict the new defini-t ion of clerical work as "women's work" wh ich arose du r ing the early 1900s. A woman is to be preferred for the secretarial position, for she is not averse to doing minor tasks, work involv-ing the handling of petty details, which would irk and irritate ambitious young men, who usually feel that the work they are doing is of no importance if it can be performed by some person with a lower salary, (p. 76) Social definitions were brought i n l ine wi th labour demands and occupational gender segregation became entrenched. A l t h o u g h it is possible to identify four pr imary factors w h i c h interacted to b r ing about pronounced changes i n the nature and structure of clerical work i n the 1900s, there were many irregularities i n the effects across industries, firms and occupational groups. Some firms were qu ick to adopt new female workers whereas others c l u n g to o l d patriarchal attitudes. T h e bank ing industry i n particular resisted the entry of female office workers and went so far as to request that male clerks be exempt from conscript ion o n the basis of their special qualif icat ions and vi ta l role i n the economy (p. 68). Even w i t h i n the clerical field, sharp contrasts could be drawn between female stenography and other more demanding clerical positions which continued to be filled by men. Lowe's crit ique of the Neo-marxist posit ion illustrates that the decline i n the relative wage of clerks was as much due to the lowering of status inidated by the inf lux of female workers, as it was to more traditionally understood proletarianization. Generalizations based on aggregate salary data miss the essential contribution of the feminiza-tion process and the influences of particular f i rm and industry characteristics. T h r o u g h his dedication to detail, Lowe has provided an insightful reappraisal of the many conditions wh ich coin-cided to change the very essence of clerical work. Even though other authors have discussed the general down-ward mobi l i ty of office workers, a thorough examinat ion of relevant historical events was needed to uncover the underlying complexities of this process of change. Margaret Dechman Hal i fax, Nova Scotia Each i n H e r O w n Way: Five W o m e n Leaders of the Devel-o p i n g W o r l d . M a r i o n Fennelly Levy, Boulder and Lon-don: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1988, Pp. 181. T h e purpose, style and coritent of Each in Her Own Way: Five Women Leaders of the Developing World are a tribute to feminist observation and acuon. The inspira-t ion for the book arose out of M a r i o n Fennelly Levy's appreciation for the work that women do. Conscious that women's contributions to society remain largely invisible i n the records of wor ld history, Levy embraced the goal of documenting the work and spirit of five women who, i n her evaluation, are extraordinary leaders i n the field of the T h i r d W o r l d development. Rang ing i n length from 27 to 34 pages, each of the five biographies unite Levy's observations, research and anal-ysis wi th the women's o w n words. Levy's effective use of quotations from her interviews w i t h the women and from material they have written provides the reader both wi th a direct l ink to each of the women's insights and ideas, and w i t h a rare opportuni ty to contact the depth of their experiences and emotions as captured i n the women's analogies, metaphors and song. In five diverse geographical, po l i t i ca l , social, and eco-nomic contexts, Levy's work highlights the interplay of 

Women in the Administrative Revolution. Graham S. Lowe.

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Women in the Administrative Revolution. Graham S. Lowe.

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