European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine now Yort Tim Phon asked what he does Secretary Lei pm lips Hedges i Don t want to expose myself to All the  secretaries beleaguered in the workplace by Andrew l Yarrow new York times Hen people ask what i do i hedge i tend to say i m a Legal  said Les Phillips a 28-year-old Secretary in Philadelphia. I Don t want to expose myself to All the  after being the Only Man in his class at the local Katharine Gibbs school. Phillips  eventually Hopes to go to Law school last your became the Only Lull Lime male Secretary at the Law firm of Decher Price & Rhoads. Although women have been crossing into traditional Mala jobs for years there has hardly been a major stud in the other direction. Phillips and some 70,000 other Mala secretaries in the United Stales Are barely statistically Signi Hanl in their Field. According to Andrew Hacker professor of political science at Queens College secretaries make up the nation s second most overwhelmingly Legate occupation narrowly trailing denial Hygin Emils. But ahead of receptionists. Of the More than four million secretaries. 9s.4 percent Are women says the . Bureau of Labo statistics still the masculine presence is increasing in the last five years. The proportion of male secretaries has nearly doubled from 0 87 percent. Many men m traditionally female dominated professions arc in two income households where they can afford to take lower paying jobs or they Are single or Gay said Hacker author of us a statistical portrait of the american  mate secretaries More Likely than not he said tend to be Young single Chy dwellers. And they Are concentrated in i handful of Fields such As publishing Public relations Law government and the arts they also seem to be belter educated than hair female counterpart although no Dala exist according to Candace Louis of professional secretaries International a Kansas City.  organization it s my impression that men Are More Likely than women to have gone to College and Mado a conscious Choice to be secretaries whereas women tend to fall into their careers but this tiny fraternity is often beleaguered in the workplace. Depending on one s perspective. Male secretaries Are either seen As courageous trailblazers in the struggle against sexism in the Olf Ico their own View or else As vocational eccentrics who cannot make it in a real mans Job. According to a common prejudice Many Are probably homosexual. Donn Mitchell a temporary Secretary in new York recalls one supervisor saying that his colleagues always asked if his Secretary was Gay. I told him to reply Why do you want to ask him Lor a Date " Mitchell said. According to Margo Berk Levine president of the National association of temporary services male executives have always perceived men who Are secretaries As less than Macho and somewhat Quirky and that s despite the Al that some Well known men have held the Job including Broadway producer Billy Rose and the Young Lyndon Johnson who was Secretary to a Texas congressman for four years. Now however i to very notion of a male Secretary seems like something of a cultural oxymoron. People automatically refer to secretaries As she said Paul Martin who is 34 years old and has worked As a Secretary for several new York companies since 1975 most men Don t see secretarial work As a profession they see men As managers and women As  added Donn Mitchell i be had people walk right past me and ask another Secretary a woman where my Boss was it never occurred to them that a Man in a saturday August 2, 1986 while shirt and a acc Tio might actually be a  such slights arc benign. Mitchell says compared to the deep rooted unspoken Bias that pervades Many companies. This led him to file an unusual sex Dischi Sinahon suit against his Farmer employ or the Smith Kline Beckman corp. Last october. Mitchell who has done secretarial work Lor about 12 years has charged that when Smith Kline converted a Pool of in House temporary secretaries to permanent status to the Only Man in the group was excluded from Tho conversion what s being challenged hero is the deeply imbedded Nolion that women Are inherently belter suited for secretarial work which happens Lobo one of the Towel paying and least respected occupations in America Mitchell said Jeremy Heymsfield. A spokesman said that Smith Kline dismisses the Case As having no Meril bul would not comment furl her because the Mailer is in litigation. Women secretaries generally Lake no of fens when men come Onlo their Lurf. But male secretaries say there Are occasional u Beal reactions everything from puzzled looks to sexual overtures loosen resentment from their female colleagues one possible cause for resentment is Tho tact that median weekly wages for male Sec ovaries. Acco