Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!pigs!root@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU From: pigs!root@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (The Beach Bum) Newsgroups: comp.society.women Subject: Re: Working at Home Summary: Resentment from the Office Bound Message-ID: <11305@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: 23 Jun 88 21:07:56 GMT References: <11144@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: Big "D" Home for Wayward Hackers Lines: 38 Approved: skyler@violet.berkeley.edu (Moderator -- Trish Roberts) Comments-to: comp-women-request@cs.purdue.edu Submissions-to: comp-women@cs.purdue.edu In article <11144@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>, skyler@violet.berkeley.edu writes: > It was supposed, when computing firms starting expanding wildly, > that computing would be a great field for women. Ideally, one > did not have to be in the same building as other people to be in > the same firm and working on the same project. This was supposed > to mean that women could work at home. It was supposed to mean > that computing would be a particularly inviting field for women. > This doesn't seem to have happened. Has it? If not, why not? I have only worked for one computing firm, but several other jobs were ameniable to working from home on occasion. I have generally been one of two or three actual computer literate employees. And this is how my experiences with telecomputing have gone ... The resistance which I have seen as far as my doing work from my house has come from other employees who do not understand telecomputing. Upper level managers, who can use spreadsheets or other tools over the phone, seem willing to use the phone lines and are understanding of my doing so. Bosses always seem interested in new toys and terminals and modems seem to be a popular item. Clerical workers, who have no use whatsoever and no understanding of telecomputing, find the strange and random hours quite upsetting. These employees present the greatest obstacle to having more employees telecompute. Their jealousy and hostility seems to be very disruptive and demoralizing. I see the greatest room for expansion in the middle ranks. However, these workers are marginally computer literate in most cases, and the expense of a personal computer equipted with the needed software is prohibitive. The solution might appear to be using dumb terminals and modems rather than PCs. However, first I have to get the bosses around here to use the dialup lines more often. - John F. Haugh II