Connotations of Secretary

Connotations of Secretary Connotations of Secretary Connotations of Secretary By Maeve Maddox Secretary is formed from secret. The noun suffix -ary comes from a Latin masculine form and means â€Å"belonging to or engaged in. The first â€Å"secretaries† were men who kept records and wrote letters for kings, i.e., they were people who could be trusted to keep secrets of state. Even today, although the word secretary in a business context lies on the trash heap of â€Å"political correctness,† it remains in honored use as the title of a highly placed government official, for example, â€Å"Secretary of State† and â€Å"Secretary of Defense.† At the beginning of the twentieth century, educational opportunities for women increased and the male fatalities of World War I opened new avenues to female employment. Ambitious young women, like the maid encouraged by Lady Sybil in the Downton Abbey series, aspired to the job of secretary as a means of escaping the drudgery and subservience of domestic employment. In previous decades, employment as a secretary had been a man’s job. As more and more women entered the occupation, the word secretary became feminized in the context of office work. Hollywood movies, novels, and television shows contributed to the various stereotypes that have grown up around the word: brainless young woman who files, takes telephone messages, and provides coffee for the men in the office. beautiful woman with large bosom ogled by boss and other men in the office beautiful/scheming woman looking to break up the boss’s marriage unattractive, highly efficient woman who conceals a decades-long love for the unsuspecting boss highly efficient elderly woman who lives only for her job I have never watched the television series Mad Men, but the Web abounds in articles about its presentation of the role of secretaries in the 1960s. These excerpts from an article in the New York Post (April 6, 2015) indicate that the writers for the series drew shamelessly on secretarial stereotypes: In six and a half seasons, Don has churned through nine secretaries, who were often the victim of their boss’ womanizing ways.   A switchboard operator in Season 1, Lois becomes Don’s secretary in Season 2 after Peggy’s promotion, but he fires her for being incompetent. The model-like Jane gets assigned to Don’s desk in Season 2 and it isn’t long before she starts an affair with Roger Sterling, who leaves his wife to marry her.   A Sterling Cooper employee since Season 1, Allison started as a receptionist and became Don’s secretary in Season 3. When a drunken Don forgets his keys after a Christmas party, she delivers them to his apartment and the two sleep together.   After Allison resigns, Joan assigns Bert Cooper’s elderly secretary to Don’s desk, knowing she’s the one secretary he won’t have an affair with (though it was revealed that in her younger years, Roger did just that). Blunt and cantankerous, Ida provided some comic relief before dying suddenly at her desk.   The French-Canadian Megan was promoted from the typing pool to Don’s secretary after Miss Blankenship’s death and quickly leads her boss back into his womanizing ways. On a trip to California in the season finale, Don proposes on a whim and the two later marry.   An image search for â€Å"secretaries cartoons† brings up screeds of drawings of varying degrees of offensiveness that perpetuate the stereotypes. It’s not surprising that the organization founded in 1942 as â€Å"The National Secretaries Association†- after several intervening name changes- has settled on this one: â€Å"The International Association of Administrative Professionals.† The widespread change from calling the employees formerly known as â€Å"secretaries† to â€Å"administrative assistants† is justified by the argument that running an office is more complicated than it was in the past. But, isn’t everything? We still call teachers teachers and doctors doctors. Words other than secretary exist or could be coined for office jobs that do not entail as much work and expertise as that of secretary: receptionist, filing clerk, mail clerk, errand-runner, coffee-maker. I predict that if the occupation of â€Å"administrative assistant† turns out to employ mostly women, the term will take on the same sexist overtones as secretary. Euphemisms tend to take on the connotations they are invented to dispel. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Try to vs. Try andAppropriate vs. Apropos vs. Apt

Criminal Justice and Deviance Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Criminal Justice and Deviance - Coursework Example Political influence for material leads to bribery, extortion, and kickbacks in the society. For instance, the Watergate scandal in America history illustrated the web of affairs between the political class and organized crime in addition to dirty politics affects citizens’ welfare. In view of this, public funds were lost through unscrupulous payment, for instance in the Watergate scandal, President Reagan ex-GSA appointee and his associates received a total of 2.3 million dollars through the sale of tax credits for a HUD-sponsored project (Simon, 2008). The interrelationship between the political elite with political clout is a fundamental constituent in upholding deviance, in that corporation persuade law makers to make certain that their actions escape criminalization and rigorous sanctions. The use of unfair means to gain and maintain power is also synonymous to political clout because, both distort democracy by disrupting, national unity in addition to destroying freedom. Political power is meant for national building (Bharathi, 1998). 2. Chapters 7 & 9 of Elite Deviance explore many type of political deviance in the US. What can be done to curtail the many types of deviance discussed? Political policing is one of the methods, which can be used to curtail political deviance. Civil societies have undertaken the role of political policing in the government for many years in American and across the globe, by advocating for citizens civil engagement in issues affecting their existence, such as allocation of funds and social equality. The political deviance of secrecy, lying and deception bestowed to politicians especially presidents and vice presidents through executive powers can be curtailed through cutback of executive privileges and immunity to president on leaving office or while in office. This is because presidential immunity allows presidents and other high-ranking politicians to withhold crucial information from the public, the court system, and the legislature such as Congress and senate, which may be crucial to national security. For example, General M. Taylor refused to appear before the House Subcommittee on Defense Application to give information regarding the Bay of Pigs offensive in 1963 (Simon, 2008). Other political deviances like abuse of power by government agencies, war crimes, official violence, political prisoners, and international crimes can be curtailed through imprisonment of the culprits after their rein in power or impeachment of sitting presidents (Hodge & Nolan, 2007). 3. If marijuana were to be legalized in the US with 3 years, would a stigma be associated with its use? Legalization of marijuana would not attract stigma in its users, because its current use in America is widespread despite being illegal. Statistics indicate that marijuana is the most commonly used illegal substance under the illicit drugs category. In addition, the drug is relatively socially acceptable as compared to other illicit d rugs such as cocaine and heroin (Husak & De Marneffe, 2005). The social stigma associated with marijuana use would be curtailed by the fact that, at present some states in America have legalized its use for medicinal purpose, hence a marijuana user would support his or her use through the medical facts currently offered. A cultural movement of cannabis enthusiastic called 420 has made cannabis smoking relatively social

Leadership & Negotiation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership & Negotiation - Essay Example From the discussion it is clear that organizations are faced with an alarming shrinkage in the availability of funds as obtaining credit has become harder, a fact which has resulted in driving well established businesses to the point of bankruptcy. The global recession also proves to be a considerable challenge because inflation has increased the level of risk associated with business activities and in these times of the financial crunch.This essay discusses that smaller businesses will generally be much more sensitive to the on going credit crunch because of their limited sources of external funding, larger more well established organizations will face the difficulties of keeping a huge business set up going in an atmosphere of financial   vulnerability. Hence it would be safe to say that all sorts of businesses are facing considerable difficulties during these times. However, there are some ways that organizations can counter these circumstances. Leaders must aim to build their o rganization’s credit structures in a way which enable them to weather the â€Å"bitter cold shock to the credit markets† . Leaders of small to medium organizations can ensure credit approval by devising strong negotiation strategies and can also look towards other sources of external financing such as â€Å"crowd funding†.  Leaders will have to learn how to make their organizations more ‘flexible’, because surviving in today’s business environment means that organizations will have to respond to the micro-markets’ demands in a timely manner, and this can only be done if organizations are flexible.

Social problems paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social problems paper - Essay Example The following statement made by Bankoff becomes highly significant in this context: "If the Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina can be said to have any 'lessons' for us, it is to suggest that western developed countries may have as much to learn about disaster preparedness, management and recovery from non-western developing countries in terms of community-based assistance and the integrated flexible use of technology as the latter do from the former in terms of technocratic know-how and scientific expertise." (Bankoff, 2006). Thus these disasters "appear to both reinforce and then question the way western people think about what makes communities and societies vulnerable." (Bankoff, 2006). We always talk about economic inequalities at the time of a disaster rather than focusing on more relevant factors. Does it matter a lot When we consider the lessons taught by the two disasters, we are sure that economic inequalities did not have such a great significance. Both the economically sound and weak nations are yet to learn the real lessons of the hazards. In the matters of hazards and disaster preparedness, management and recovery, the economically weak nations always rely not on the technocratic solutions.

Current Evet to American Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Current Evet to American Politics - Essay Example However, neither Senator Clinton's association with a highly popular former president nor the ever-increasing unpopularity of the Republican Party, are sufficient guarantees of a Democratic victory. Indeed, as may be inferred from Healey's (2007) article, the complexities inherent in both the party primaries and the presidential elections are certain to make this a difficult race for Senator Clinton. The 2008 elections, whether for either party's nomination or the presidency, are largely complicated by the fact that they represent the first non-incumbent or open-seat race in exactly eight decades. As the American government and political science scholars, Petrocik and Desposato (2004) explain, party primaries and presidential elections usually feature an incumbent as a contender. Ever since 1928, sitting presidents or vice-presidents have joined the presidential race as candidates and, irrespective of whether they win or loose, often pose as extremely strong contenders. In the 2008 elections, no incumbents are running for the presidency or either the Democratic or Republican Primaries. To an extent, this may work in favor of Senator Clinton's race for her party's nomination and, if successful, for the presidency, insofar as she may be classified as a semi-incumbent.

Business,Government and Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business,Government and Ethics - Case Study Example The petitioners are claiming that these policies are likely to affect the operations of broadcasters. For an instant, the incentive auction rules that Sinclair and NEB are protesting about. Other issues by the TV stations are on joint sale agreements and the interests that are accrued from such agreements. The policies on joint sale agreement has been so stringent in that the commission wants to regulated the issue of multiple-ownership of the various media or broadcasting stations more so those owned by foreigners. Concerning this issue on ownership, the agency is strictly basing its augments that the operations of the stations should be aimed at the interest of the public. The other problem that has surfaced is the issue of reform contest rules run by the broadcasting stations. The stations are required to avail or rather disclose their materials through the internet. These challenges that the commission face has significantly affected the public, specific businesses, the communication and media industry, government institutions, and also the enactment of future policies. These issues are still pending in courts since the courts have not made their rulings. In fact, it is anticipated that the courts will make their rulings in 2016. However, in the judicial proceeding, the commission has solely relied on protecting the interest of the public in its arguments as well as the need to protect consumers. The advantage of these cases is that suppose the court will rule in favor of the commission then it will illuminate that the commission has bridged the gaps that existed in earlier cases where their regulatory mandates had suffered through judicial rulings. Consequences of the cases are that the commission is likely to be strengthened in its efforts to provide regulatory oversight to companies in the communication and telecommunication sector of the country. For example, they will have the legal authority to determine interests that emanate

Media ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Media ethics - Essay Example Danger in so many ways is and continues to be one of the hazards of the trade. The advent of technology has brought forth a new media that allows for and searches for a new definition of press freedom. In this new avenue, censorship is becoming a mere obstacle that can be hurdled. This is not to say that oppressive governments cannot find their way into the loop but admit it or not, it has opened up a number of possibilities that allows for creativity. In the same way that administrations found alternative ways to deal with the issue and avert from the muckraking that is ruinous to them. The Asian region remains the front line in terms of censorship. The communist nations of China and Vietnam records the most number of jailed web radicals to date. The issue of censorship will never seem to elude the continent as oppressive governments are persistent upon their unruly implementation or lack thereof of press freedom. The World Wide Web has turned into a battlefield where journalists, guised in anonymity, can express themselves and expose subsequent governments. But in a number of times, this is not without its undue consequences entailed (Kushner, par. 1-2). The current trend, as Adam B. Kushner of Newsweek said is that, â€Å"governments dont just censor, they scare.† With the 210 million users of Internet in China, the government has long realized that it will be impossible to police all of them, and so in a last ditch effort for control, text messages have circulated that aims to jolt fear in common and oftentimes apolitical masses. This is a type of surveillance wherein authorities make it seem they are scattered all over to prevent and taunt those who desire to search for materials online. On a regular basis, China denies access to 19,000 websites that are considered threatening by the Chinese government according to a study conducted by the Harvard Law School. The study found out that the capital, Beijing, blocks