Women and the Telephone

Studying again... And now distracted.

Did you know that back in the day when telephones came into existence, the operators were almost only female. Apparently the people who ran the companies thought women would be better for the job. It is interesting to note that the job of telegraph operator was only filled by men. It was the isolation factor of the job that made it a job for a man.

Here is the telephone bigwigs' possibly gender stereotyped logic:

• Women work well together. They are better in community settings. (Notice that this is completely the opposite of telegraph operators?)
• Women are easier to control. They were concerned with unionization.
  
• Women have more patience.
  

In those days Bell Telephone Co. was marketing the telephone as something for business use only - and they were very specific with how the telephone should be used. Usage for anything other than business was seen as "a waste of time and money"1. The telephone's place was in the office and so it was primarily men who used it for professional work. Men did often often have a phone at home- but again, it was for business.

Women began to use the telephone in ways that were not prescribed by the Bell Telephone Co. Especially personal calls. They made these calls during all points in the day and that was only supposed to take place in the evening. Soon homes were equipped with two lines. One for the man's business use and one for the woman's increasingly social use.

There was also something called party lines. This is when a bunch of homes in the same area would share the same telephone line. This was like at your home. You pick up the phone only to find that your mom is on the phone already. Same concept. Party lines were used as a sort of modern day chat room by women. You would have Martha from up the road, Sarah from down the road, yourself, and other women you may not even know. This was a way for people to connect in rural settings and form community.

Nowadays, when you think about the phone which gender do you connect to it? Probably female. You probably imagine your little sister talking away for hours on the phone. Or your mom talking to your aunt. Do you associate the female gender with telephone usage? What do people think about the telephone? Do you like it especially? Was there a time when you liked it more (especially since telephone use seems to be waning with the younger generation). What is the difference between using Skype rather than an actual phone?

1. Robinson, Daniel J., ed. Communication History in Canada. Canada: Oxford University Press, 2004. (All info comes from this source, not just the quote)