Re: Gender and Tech Writing

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM>]

Subject:
        Re: Gender and Tech Writing (Any info on Toronto?)
   Date:
        Fri, 26 Jun 1998 15:33:33 -0400
  From:
        Laurie Little <llittle -at- IDIRECT -dot- COM>


Hi Mary
Check out the Toronto chapter website job bank -- many list rates
(contract and permanent), and after watching for a while you can get a
fairly good idea of the local market.
http://www.myna.com/torontostc/
Laurie

> -----Original Message-----
Mary Perchanok [SMTP:perchanok -dot- bailey -at- SYMPATICO -dot- CA] wrote:

> I'm looking for entry-level technical writing work and I would like to
> extend my search to Toronto, but I haven't a clue what the salary
> range is, male or female.

Last years' STC Salary Survey, but last years' suggested that
tech-writing
was one of the few careers in which a gender gap didn't exist, at least
in Canada.

I don't place much faith in the survey overall, but that's also true in
my
experience.

Why that should be, I don't know. Maybe it's because the boom in
tech-writing
is fairly recent, so the old boy's net isn't very large.

Or maybe it's because, in our culture, women tend to have greater verbal
skills. I do know that, when I was teaching at university (and marking
papers
blind, to avoid biases) that, among outstanding students, women tended
to
outnumber men by a ration of about 3 to 1. I notice about the same ratio
among working tech-writers, too.

Of course, the cynical side me wonders if tech-writing wouldn't pay more
if
it was considered a male job, but the idealistic side of me is rather
happy
to be in such a progressive profession.

--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Co-ordinator ,Vancouver Technical Communicators' Co-op List
Vancouver, BC, Canada
(604) 421-7189 or 687-2133
bbyfield -at- axionet,com or bruce -at- dataphile-ca -dot- com
www.outlawcommunications.com

"Unjust and spiteful criticism taught me more than a quiet acceptance
would have done, and for that, I thank those blundering judges who were
responsible for my education. The motivations behind their judgments
enlightened me and allowed me to enjoy a clear conscience. A sincere
mind turns everything to its advantage, and that which would discourage
mere vanity redoubles the fervor of real commitment."
-George Sand