Why did women make up the good majority of switchboard operators? (50s, Chinese)
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my theory: most persons back then used tele-fones mostly for business purposes since it was so costly. mostly men were allowed to be business owners or managers; maybe, they like bossing around women better ?
i read an article that the default voice of b.m.w.'s nav system is female in u.s.a.; whereas, in germany, the default voice is male because men didnt like being told what to do by a woman.
What's even more interesting is why are board and care workers Filipino? What are nail ladies Vietnamese? Why were gardeners Japanese (now Mexican)? Why are 7-11 workers middle eastern? Why are massage workers Chinese? Why are Art History majors mostly female? Why are Engineer majors mostly male? Why are medical office workers female? Why are construction workers, roofers, fishermen, lumberjacks almost always male?
You can thank actress Tippi Heddron for the advent of Vietnamese nail ladies.
Thanks, interesting answers.
Why was it Filipinos and not say South Americans or Middle Easterners or other Asians?
The answers make economic sense but why THOSE nationalities/ethnicities? The community pathfinder makes sense, a seed is planted and it grows. And the Vietnamese makes sense - a lot of the Vietnamese settled in Orange County which has some affluent communities who use nail care so I can see that relationship. But why Japanese and not Chinese or Koreans for example? When I worked at Point Mugu Naval Air Station all the "Range Ops" (guys who worked radar and telemetry equipment for testing) guys were Filipino - but there's a strong link between the Philippines and the Navy.
The Philippines is one of the largest sources of educated American English speakers, thus an asset in the paramedical fields that folks from other nations need to play catch up.
Around the turn of the century Korea was under Japan's thumb and many were not coming and Chinese workers had followed their trailblazers towards a different working path.
As for the massage/sex industry when I was younger before therapeutic massage became a growth industry the slave sex workers were generally thought to be Korean before more Chinese were able to get out of the Peoples Republic
Just asked DH why the Telcos wanted women. He said because they would do it.
His 1st duty out of college working for a Telco was in what they called the traffic department. Many of the female supervisors were retired WACS. The pay was no where near as competitive to an entry level lineman. He tried to get the company to put in onsite daycare. His boss thought he was nuts. But part of his job was to decide where to locate the offices in order to get operators and how much it would cost.
Both my daughters worked as information operators during the summers. One would come home sad about all the rude people she encountered. The other was just as rude right back. She knew the chief was not going to fire her.
Thanks, interesting answers.
Why was it Filipinos and not say South Americans or Middle Easterners or other Asians?
The answers make economic sense but why THOSE nationalities/ethnicities? The community pathfinder makes sense, a seed is planted and it grows. And the Vietnamese makes sense - a lot of the Vietnamese settled in Orange County which has some affluent communities who use nail care so I can see that relationship. But why Japanese and not Chinese or Koreans for example? When I worked at Point Mugu Naval Air Station all the "Range Ops" (guys who worked radar and telemetry equipment for testing) guys were Filipino - but there's a strong link between the Philippines and the Navy.
There is a strong tie between the Philippines and the US Navy. For generations the Navy recruited young men directly in the Philippines into the Navy. For years they were segregated and could only serve as cooks and officers servants. That gradually changed and .they were fully integrated into all ranks.
I’m not clear on the Vietnamese nail shops. Lately here they seem to be more Chinese owned. They seem to be mostly operated by new arrivals as the newer generations are better educated and into more mainstream jobs. And the Koreans operating dry cleaning stores. Prevalent here with military folks having uniforms cleaned.
There is a strong tie between the Philippines and the US Navy. For generations the Navy recruited young men directly in the Philippines into the Navy. For years they were segregated and could only serve as cooks and officers servants. That gradually changed and .they were fully integrated into all ranks.
I’m not clear on the Vietnamese nail shops. Lately here they seem to be more Chinese owned. They seem to be mostly operated by new arrivals as the newer generations are better educated and into more mainstream jobs. And the Koreans operating dry cleaning stores. Prevalent here with military folks having uniforms cleaned.
The Korean dry cleaners is what many started to switch to after the liquor stores were burned down in the LA Rodney King Riots. The Korean shop owners of the 80s and 90s had replaced the Jewish shop owners of the 60s urban riots
At the time there was a considerable bias against "young girls" being let out of the house period, much less working in offices. Far too much risk of "bad things" happening. We know young females even just as teenagers (or younger) long had been put into domestic service and other "child labor" including the new factories and other jobs resulting from the industrial revolution. But as things usually go young girls were preyed upon/abused by everyone from their employers to male co-workers.
As alluded to previously many places had almost convent like laws/rules regarding female employees. This was much about their protection than anything else. Many males then (as still today) viewed pools of young women (or girls) as fresh meat ripe for the taking. This is where all those supervisors (often older matronly women) came into play. One of their jobs was to keep an eye on their charges and or act as someone they could go to with "problems".
Until anti-discrimination/harassment laws were passed what actions a supervisor could take to "protect" a girl/female might be limited to moving her away from some guy with hand problems. But if the "guy" was an executive or even the owner/boss of the place, then things got complicated.
It is important to remember even with compulsory education state laws are all over the place in how long/far it should go. To about 15 or 17 seems pretty common, and often their were lower ages for females (again that presumption of marriage and children).
Biggest push in mandatory education actually came from WWI time. In both Europe (such as Great Britain), and USA military and other government officials were shocked at the state of recruits in both their state of health and education. For many being drafted/going into the military was the first time they'd seen a physician in their lives.
On the education front to say many of those young men were "ignorant" would be putting it mildly. Post WWI it was deemed best way to bring about a better educated and healthy population was to deal with things from the beginning. That is to better educate the persons primarily responsible for children, their mothers.
If females were taught to read, write, do sums, etc... at least to say a high school level they in turn would be able to teach/assist their children with their lessons. They would also be better prepared to absorb the volumes of printed and other matter put out on child rearing, children's health, homemaking,etc...
Interesting. I just looked up compulsory education in Canada, and several Canadain provinces adopted compulsory school attendance laws in the 1870's.
Interesting. I just looked up compulsory education in Canada, and several Canadain provinces adopted compulsory school attendance laws in the 1870's.
Thank you for posting all this info!
P.S.
As a follow-up only to say that last bit worked, and rather well.
Children of college educated mothers on average do far better in many areas than others. Indeed households in general where both parents hold degrees (or at least perhaps attended college, and maybe grad school), tend to produce children with better educational and other outcomes.
All this current noise about educational "inequality" misses the point entirely. Schools only have charge of children for eight or so hours per day for about ten months of a year. Large parts of a child's education and so forth come from the home, and for that you need a parent or parents who are highly educated themselves.
Something else has been happening over past few decades as well. Men by and large are marrying females (and now even males ) from their own class/educational backgrounds . Days of a secretary, nurse, office worker nabbing an "executive" or whatever such man are slowly dwindling. Especially if she herself only has a high school or "some" college education. One main reason for this is of course children. Men are seeking someone similar to themselves in background as best suited for raising any future children.
Ivy League graduates are more likely to marry others like themselves as well, but only where socio-economic backgrounds are similar. That is a low income student from say Princeton unlike days of old cannot simply count upon being admitted into that (or any other ILS) to raise her (or his) stakes in the marriage market.
Simple. Because men like talking to women, and women like talking to women...and talking, and talking, and talking.
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