Making Newspapers Pay: Employment of Women's Skills in Newspaper Production

Abstract

Technological change blurs the distinction between 'men's work' and 'women's work' and raises questions concerning the nature and definition of skill. This case study focuses on changes in the organization of work in the classified advertising telephone room following the introduction of computerized photocomposition into a Melbourne newspaper publishing organization. Account is taken of the design of the women's jobs both before and after technological change as well as the specific historically developed nature of both product and labour markets. The study demonstrates the extent to which women's skills are devalued when analysis focuses on the nature of changes in traditional male occupations like trades and crafts. When conventional approaches to skill analysis are used, a significant aspect of 'women's work'—emotional labour—is ignored. Consequently the lower value of traditional female occupations is reinforced. Some tentative suggestions are advanced for a reappraisal of the notion of skill.