Writing Between Women and Letters / Conquering Home Row and New Technology

Author's note: I previously published several posts in the Writing Club Community. However, this is my first participation in one of the Community's initiatives. I felt a desire to enter this initiative and share my experiences in dealing with "Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls."

Home Row. Those two words terrified me as a teen. However, once conquered, they would define me as a woman worthy of a place in the budding technology era.

The time was 1968. I had no idea that I grew up in an era before the digital age. I had no concept of the internet, computer, and information technology and how it would change my status in the world.

First, my home economics teacher advised me that I would need to take typing as a course in order to to pass the class. I was so upset that I asked my parents to remove me from the class. They did not support my request. Going into it, I had no idea what to expect or how this could help me past graduation. My girlfriends were also leery of the massive black machine she introduced to us.

Little did we know that these intimidating manual monsters would change our lives forever. All we had to do was conquer HOME ROW!

However, she had another surprise. We needed to memorize the keys. That would be easy I thought. What she didn't tell us was that we'd be required to type without seeing the characters on the keyboard. She covered each. By conquering this, I was set for life as a master of the typewriter, with a typing speed of 100 words a minute, with 98% accuracy.

I saw few prospects of attending college from a lower-income family perspective. I was advised that if I didn't want to work in the hotel industry or the restaurant industry, I'd need skills to earn a decent salary.

A decant salary meant more than $1.00 an hour.

There were even fewer prospects for a high school graduate with no other skills to advance. Floundering through life for two years without direction, my first job as a dishwasher earned me $1.00/hr. However, my brother's job in the same profession paid twice that amount. I've always thought it unfair the differences between the pay amounts for men and women performing the same job.

I had to put my typing skills to use in an environment where my physical strength was lacking and didn't define my knowledge.

Usher in the corporate job offer.

My Introduction To the Corporate World

By completing a six-month Technology Course, I was able to put my skills to valuable use. I became proficient in corporate office procedures. I'd found my niche. I was offered $1.25 an hour. I couldn't believe my good fortune. And, my typing skills on the manual typewriter opened the door to advancement. Typing rate sheets for eight hours a day honed my skills.

The carbon copy paper and erasing when mistakes were made did cause me numerous sleepless nights.

However, technological advancements were coming. My company was one of the first to purchase the electric typewriter. A vast improvement over the manual.

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Then, in the early 1980s, we were given the chance to test the first computer. It was scary, this new technology, but I could see it was the future in advancing women in the workplace.

With each new technology product I was introduced to, I volunteered to learn all I could. My knowledge grew as I returned from the company-sponsored classes to teach co-workers.

One such advancement was with the use of the new IBM PC DOS 1. This modern computer technology was known as the IBM 5150, with a DOS operating system and DOS commands, plus a floppy disk drive. There were no GUI (graphical user interface, or onscreen icons to guide you). The Microsoft Disk Operating System (DOS) came equipped with the computer. Learning MS-DOS commands was crucial.

It was exciting to expand my knowledge of computers. As a consequence, my salary doubled. I was now earning more than $1,000/mo. I was also given the opportunity to learn new filing systems and the operation of new printers, together with facsimile machines.

These new technological skills I acquired continued to increase my salary to a comparable rate above those women who didn't possess any such skills by working in other industries.

However, my salary wasn't commensurate with my skill knowledge. I still fell considerably short of my male counterparts learning the same technology.

The internet, electronic mail, and more advanced technological advances were in store. These technological advances revolutionized work practices. Women became interested in the education that lead to them participating in and competing for positions in these fields.

As technology grew, so did opportunities for women to advance in fields previously denied them, except that of working in an office as a secretary or receptionist greeting customers and clients.

However, salaries for women still lagged far behind those of our male counterparts.

The country was moving toward to an economy centered on technology as it related to information gathering, use, and application. Society was required to move forward with it or be left out of the mainstream.

Women have long been left out of traditional roles that men occupy in computer science and information technology. those roles also pertain to management and upper level position. I feel, though, the gap is closing somewhat.

In the future, I believe that educational opportunities will open up and women will play a greater role in advanced technology.

What I feel is needed is additional resources to include women in information technology and engineering fields as they relate to automated business processes in all sectors of industry.

However, gender inequality still remain an uphill struggle in the workforce.

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