In the United States, the majority of technical writers and technical writing teachers are women. Their dominance of the profession has several causes, including the attractiveness of writing jobs for women, widespread associations of women and superior writing ability, the social acceptability of women in writing jobs, and occupational segregation. Women's dominance of the profession brings with it the risk of diminishing wages and prestige. To avoid this depreciation of the field, professional associations ought to equip technical writers and technical writing teachers with information regarding satisfactory salaries and working conditions, and teachers ought to communicate this information to their students.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen Jo
. “Gender Issues in Technical Communication Studies: An Overview of the Implications for the Profession, Research, and Pedagogy.”JBTC5 (1991):371-392.
2.
Apple, Michael W.“Teaching and `Women's Work': A Comparative Historical and Ideological Analysis.”Teachers College Record86.3 (1985): 455-473.
3.
Bell, Daniel
. “The Social Framework of the Information Society,”The Microelectronics Revolution. Ed. Tom Forester. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1980. 500-549.
4.
Buttner, E. Holly
, and Benson Rosen. “The Effects of Labor Shortages on Starting Salaries for Sex-Typed Jobs.”Sex Roles17 (1987): 59-71.
5.
Crosby, Faye J.Relative Deprivation and Working Women. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
6.
Davies, Margery W.Woman's Place Is at the Typewriter: Office Work and Office Workers 1870-1930. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982.
7.
Davis, K. Clark
. “Survey of STC Membership.”Technical Communication27.3 (1980): 13-17.
8.
Flynn, Elizabeth A.“Composing as a Woman.”College Composition and Communication39 (1988): 423-435.
9.
Fullerton, Howard N., Jr.“Labor Force Projections: 1986 to 2000.”Monthly Labor Review110.9 (1987): 19-29.
10.
Kessler-Harris, Alice
. Out to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
11.
Lay, Mary M.“Interpersonal Conflict in Collaborative Writing: What We Can Learn from Gender Studies.”JBTC3.2 (1989): 5-28.
12.
Major, Brenda
. “Gender Differences in Comparisons and Entitlement: Implications for Comparable Worth.”Journal of Social Issues45 (1989): 99-116.
13.
Major, Brenda
, and Blythe Forcey. “Social Comparisons and Pay Evaluations: Preferences for Same-Sex and Same-Job Comparisons.”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology21 (1985): 393-405.
14.
Major, Brenda
, and Ellen Konar. “An Investigation of Sex Differences in Pay Expectations and Their Possible Causes.”Academy of Management Journal27 (1984): 777-792.
15.
Matthaei, Julie A.An Economic History of Women in America. New York: Schocken, 1982.
16.
O'Hara, Frederick M., Jr.“Trends in STC.”Technical Communication36 (1989): 310-312.
17.
Patterson, Michelle
, and Laurie Engleberg. “Women in Male-Dominated Professions.”Women Working: Theories and Facts in Perspective. Ed. A. H. Stromberg and S. Harness. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield, 1978. 266-292.
18.
Reskin, Barbara, F.
, ed. Sex Segregation in the Workplace: Trends, Explanations, Remedies. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1984.
19.
Society for Technical Communication
. 1990 Technical Communicator Salary Survey. Arlington, VA: Society for Technical Communication, 1990.
20.
Society for Technical Communication
.Profile 92—STC Special Report. Arlington, VA: Society for Technical Communication, 1992.
21.
Spencer, Dee Ann
. “Public Schoolteaching: A Suitable Job for a Woman?”The Worth of Women's Work. Ed. Anne Statham, Eleanor M. Miller, and Hans O. Mauksch. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988. 167-186.
22.
Stoner, Russell B.“Economic Consequences of Feminizing Technical Communications.”Proceedings of the 35th International Technical Communication Conference. May 10-13, 1988. Washington, DC: Society for Technical Communication, 1988. MPD-108-10.
23.
Strober, Myra H.“Toward a General Theory of Occupational Sex Segregation: The Case of Public School Teaching.”Sex Segregation in the Workplace: Trends, Explanations, Remedies. Ed. Barbara F. Reskin. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1984. 144-156.
24.
Tebeaux, Elizabeth
. “Toward an Understanding of Gender Differences in Written Business Communications: A Suggested Perspective for Future Research.”JBTC4.1 (1990): 25-43.
25.
United States. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census
. Money Income of Households, Families, and Persons in the United States: 1991. Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 180. Washington, DC: GPO, 1992.
26.
United States. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census
. Digest of Education Statistics. 28th ed.Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, 1992.
27.
United States. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census
. Employment and Earnings38.1 (1991): 165.
28.
United States. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census
. Employment and Earnings39.1 (1992): 223.
29.
United States. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census
. Labor Force Statistics Derived from the Current Population Survey, 1948-87. Bulletin 2307. Washington, DC: GPO, 1988.
30.
Van Horn, Susan Householder
. Women, Work, and Fertility, 1980-1986. New York: New York University Press, 1988.
31.
Walkowski, Debbie
. “Working Successfully with Technical Experts—From Their Perspective.”Technical Communication38 (1991): 65-67.
