Regarding sexism and technical writing

Two items of interest that I discovered on the same day created an interesting juxtaposition for me. The first, via BoingBoing, points to an article by technical journalist Annalee Newitz writing about sexism that she has encountered as as a female covering the high technology industry.

The second piece, pointed out by Fred Sampson, is a CNN Money assessment of the Top 50 Jobs. The thirteenth "best" job is Technical Writer. The ranking is based on projected job growth, salary levels, and subjective qualities such job stress, flexibility, and difficulty.

Given that the tech writing is a field largely dominated by women, and the inequality that women generally face in terms of compensation and advancement, one wonders if the profession deserves its ranking, or perhaps how much higher it would place in the list if these circumstances were different. Food for thought.

Posted: April 15, 2006 link to this item, Tweet this item, respond to this item