Title: Advanced Placement: U.S. History
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Content: The typewriter, by reducing the time and expense involved in creating documents, encouraged the spread of systematic management. It allowed a system of communications that shaped the business world. While the typewriter wasn't responsible for opening the office world to women—the shortage of men during the Civil War and the increasing division of labor and specialization of office work played a bigger role—it did encourage the feminization of office work. In 1870, there were very few women office workers. In 1890, there were nearly 45,000, and 64 percent of stenographers and typists were women. Social Changes. In the 1880s, when the typewriter was first adopted in many offices, America was a country in the throes of rapid change. The way in which the typewriter was adopted reflected changes in women's roles, new ideas about the organization of work, and the rapidly growing corporations of the day. In turn, the typewriter opened up many new jobs for women in the office. Changes in People's Lives.