Pre-Boomer Musings

In 1952, through the efforts of the National Secretaries Association and the public relations department of a leading Madison Avenue ad agency, National Secretaries Week was established.  The goal was to encourage more people to consider a career as a secretary.

Over the years the week shrunk to a day, and the purpose changed from promoting careers to one of appreciative recognition.  But most important, perhaps, is how the position of secretary changed to assistant to administrative professional.

In 1981, Professional Secretaries Week became the new name of this annual celebration.  This was designed to further indicate the importance of those doing this often thankless job.  Then, someplace along the line, secretary became a dirty word.  The women’s movement had a lot to do with this.  In order for females in the workplace to breakout of what some viewed as a subservient role the concept of assistant was introduced as better nomenclature for the job formerly relegated to secretaries.  It also allowed some parameters to be set – little things like let the boss get his own coffee, and big issues such as sexual harassment changed office dynamics forever.

So, in 2000 – long after the notion of assistant was accepted even by the most chauvinist of employers – the day became Administrative Professionals Day.  I have needed administrative help over the years and am grateful for the assistance, no matter what one may call the person who performs this vital supportive role.  But I think that each change in the job title has weakened the relationship between the supervisor and the employee.

Secretaries took dictation, typed letters, filed, made appointments, welcomed guests and generally took care of and covered for their bosses.  Assistants did pretty much the same thing only without any of the personal amenities.  Administrative people today perform few of the functions secretaries and assistants did.  They want to oversee tactics and get involved with the strategic aspects while doing less of the mundane activities, all but abandoning the confidential and deep-trust relationships of the past.

The above opinions are from an individual male’s point-of-view, but hopefully this will spark some comments from pre-boomer women who lived through all these changes.

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