One of the subjects I’m interested in is the history of women office workers, and how it came about that women to this day dominate secretarial and clerical jobs. Many of the suffrage campaigners I have researched were office workers, and many women gained experience of administrative work in suffrage and other political or charitable activities. Lately I’ve been doing some work on Esther Knowles and Gladys Groom, who were secretaries to Frederick and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence. I’ve written about Esther Knowles (see link below). I’ve also researched and talked about the life of Olive Beamish, a former suffragette who went on to found her own typewriting bureau.   Working in the WSPU offices One of the things that intrigues me about the history is how much of it chimes with my own experience over a hundred years later. In 1971, Spare Rib was advising women: don’t cook, don’t type. The reason was that it was seen as a feminine skill, that is a skill that would lead only to low-pai...