January 1990
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181 Reads
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64 Citations
Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales
An Enchanted Relationship. The work of a secretary, which is socially defined as women's work, cannot be reduced to its technical characteristics. This is not only because it combines a set of skills that cannot easily be formalized, but also because it presupposes a relationship of per- sonalized dependence on the superior agent, which only a woman can be expected to fulfil. This relationship of attachment has a threefold meaning : it binds the secretary to a specific individual, it reproduces the traditional submission of women, and it contains subjective implications on each side marked by exchanges of attention and services as much as by more or less subtle challenges. The more that the figure of the boss enables the secretary to sublimate her relationship to the men of her own family group, the more likely she is to succeed in conforming to her professional destiny.