The Women Who Got America Talking - Early Telephone Operators, 1878-1922

When the need for telephone operators arose in the 1870s, the assumption was that they should all be male. Wages for adult men were too high, so boys were hired. They proved quick to argue with the subscribers, so females replaced them. Women were calmer, had reassuring voices and rarely talked back. Within a few years, telephone operators were all female and would remain so.
The pay was low and working conditions harsh. The job often impaired their health, as they suffered abuse from subscribers in silence under pain of dismissal. Discipline was stern--dress codes were mandated, although they were never seen by the public. Most were young, domestic and anything but militant. Yet many joined unions and walked picket lines in response to the severely capitalistic, sexist system they worked under.

List of contents

Table of Contents

Preface delete

Introduction delete

1.¿In the Beginning, Men vs. Women

2.¿The Hello Girl to 1900

3.¿The Operator, 1901-1922

4.¿Discipline

5.¿Health and Swearing and Love and Harassment

6.¿Strikes and Labor Unions

7.¿Goodbye to the Hello Girl

Chapter Notes delete

Bibliography delete

Index delete

About the author

Cultural historian Kerry Segrave is the author of dozens of books on such diverse topics as drive-in theaters, ticket-scalping, lie detectors, jukeboxes, smoking and shoplifting. He lives in British Columbia.

Product details

• Authors: Kerry Segrave
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.08.2017
• EAN: 9781476669045
• ISBN: 978-1-4766-6904-5
• No. of pages: 240
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 12 mm
• Weight: 322 g
• Illustrations: Raster,schwarz-weiss
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; USA, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Telecommunications, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Media & Communications, HISTORY / United States / General, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas, Communications engineering / telecommunications, Postal & Telecommunications Industries