The Eternal Struggle

I am a technical writer. I can prove it, too – it says so on my business card. Now, if only I can make my coworkers believe it.

Is it so impossible for a working woman to perform some secretarial duties and still maintain her professionalism? PHC employees outside of my department seem to see me clearly – they only call on me when they need something proofread, translated, or edited. But within the engineering department, I’m the girl who orders office supplies, keeps the plastic spoons in stock by the coffee machine, and enters data at their convenience; they are staunch troglodytes when it comes to women in the workplace. My actual work is ignored or written off as unimportant.

The whole arrangement wouldn’t bug me so much if it weren’t for the fact that I depend on the engineers to help me complete my projects. If they can’t view my work as necessary, they won’t put much effort towards helping me finish it. Case in point – I’m still waiting for data on a manual that I gave one of the engineers four months ago, and I haven’t the hierarchical authority to ask that he step it up a bit. Grrr.



There. My ranting is done for a while. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. Back to happy mode we go!