In the early twentieth century, office jobs allowed increasing numbers of women a new option for careers. Sharon Hartman Strom's detailed account of early office working conditions and practices draws on archival and anecdotal data to analyze women office workers' ambitions. She also explores how the influences of scientific management, personnel management, and secondary vocational education affected office workplaces and hierarchies.

"A richly textured and interesting book. . . . Enriches our understanding of the history of the labor force in general and office work in particular." -- American Historical Review
 

"Strom shows, better than any other labor historian has, how class, age, and marital status divided women in the office."--Women's Review of Books

"Using massive quantitative and qualitative data, the author thoroughly examines the social conditions, prevailing ideologies, and individual responses involved. . . . Well recommended." -- Choice