My Sisters Telegraphic: Women in the Telegraph Office ... - Monoskop

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WOMEN’S ISSUES IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE
T. A. referred to the American Telegraph Company’s recently initiated
program of training and hiring women as operators, under the leadership of
its chief electrician, Marshall K. Lefferts. He predicted dire consequences
for male operators as a result: “What this will lead to will be just this: ladies
will work for a much lower salary than gentlemen, and will, under those circumstances,
get the preference, and will gradually replace them.” T. A. asserted
that men should organize to protect their jobs: “What operators
should do to protect themselves from ‘hard times’ is to keep the ladies out
of the National Telegraphic Union, and also as much as possible off the
lines.” 12
In the January 30, 1865, issue, “Aurora” called attention to a statement
by a male operator who objected to women being admitted to the NTU “on
an equal footing with present members.” She noted with distaste male operators’
frequent use of profanity over the wires and stated that “it is an objection
to our being in the business, if we are supposed to be only on an
equallity [sic] with many of the gentleman operators.” Aurora suggested a
direct, if somewhat subversive, way of dealing with offensive language over
the wires: “My sisters telegraphic, let us make a rule to open the circuit
when we hear anything of the kind; a few moments delay is nothing, compared
to one soul’s perjuring itself in this way.” As another example of
“coming down” to equality with men, Aurora cited “inhaling the foggy perfume
of miserable segars,” which women operators had to endure in the
workplace.
While Aurora’s comments reflect the “separate spheres” notion that
women are morally superior to men, they also illustrate some of the cooperative
strategies that women developed to deal with behavior they found objectionable.
Opening the circuit to protest the use of profanity could cost
the company time and money and risk losing customers’ messages. Not surprisingly,
Western Union quickly banned the use of profanity over the lines;
Rule 34 of the 1870 edition of the Western Union rule book read, “Profane,
obscene, or other ungentlemanly language will not be allowed upon the
wires, nor in the offices of this Company.”
Spark replied to 134 in the January 30, 1865, Telegrapher by first agreeing
that “those who possess few superior qualifications for business” have
“abundant reason to fear the competition of ladies,” thus positioning himself
as a member of the middle class with advanced views. While he felt that