Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 20493037
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED189357 AUTHOR:
TITLE: Clerical Work: A Manual for Change. Report of the
Permanent Commission on the Status of Women on Sex
Discrimination in Clerical Work.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1978
NOTE: 47 p.
ABSTRACT: A three-part investigation of clerical workers in
Connecticut concluded that there is sex discrimination in
the field. A survey of clerical workers, interviews with
various executives, union officials, and personnel
consultants, as well as a public hearing with clerical
workers led the investigators to conclude that most of the
discrimination is systemic. Key causes identified were the
sex stereotypes which surround the roles of clerical
workers, the unwillingness to promote persons in this line
of work, and the oversupply of women in the labor force.
Selected additional conclusions of the study are that
clerical work is particularly low paid, especially when
compared to jobs of a similar skill level which are
traditionally held by men; clerical jobs are not adequately
defined on the basis of work performed; and the desire for
upward mobility in clerical work is being thwarted by low
expectations about and inadequate recognition of the
aspirations, abilities, and job duties of clerical workers.
Recommendations include the development and support of
career ladders, clerical through professional levels, with
the recognition of job experience as a basis for promotion;
the development of affirmative action plans which include
upward mobility programs; career education and work
experience programs which encourage career awareness
emphasizing office rather than clerical work; and the
performance of continuous job evaluations which provide
mechanisms for job up-grading. (MEK)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Affirmative-Action; Career-Ladders;
Employment-Experience; Employment-Opportunities; Hearings-;
Interviews-; Job-Analysis; Job-Development; Job-Skills;
Occupational-Information; Occupational-Surveys;
Organizational-Change; Salaries-; Sex-Stereotypes
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Clerical-Occupations;
*Equal-Opportunities
Jobs; *Occupational-Mobility; *Salary-Wage-Differentials;
*Sex-Discrimination
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