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Take a letter, Miss Smith. Will anyone be saying that ten years from now? five years from now? In the office, things are changing at a tremendous pace. Secretaries and bosses are also going to have to adapt to meet the new technology that is bringing in the change. This was the theme of a recent Conference The Secretary of the future at the Cafe Royal, London attended by 80 people. Presented by Eleanor Macdonald, the internationally‐known training specialist, it dealt with the anxieties being felt by those now engaged in office work. The message was:

In recent years training and development have come to be regarded as prerequisites of promotion. Every organization boasting any kind of personnel policy has departments devoted to these activities. There is no longer any doubt that, properly carried out and fitted logically into a career strategy, training and development are important management tools. Regrettably, however, women are all too often excluded.

One of the most ill‐defined areas of employment at the present time is that of the secretary. Although there are generally accepted standards of basic skill training, there is such an acute shortage of secretarial staff that many firms are forgoing these standards and making do with poor performance in order to obtain ‘pairs of hands’. This results in many girls who are able to do no more than a little typing getting away with the title, and regrettably the salary, of a secretary.

I would like to give you an indication of my background, because one of the points that was made very strongly this morning was that training and training managers have to be totally credible in the organisation for which they work or in which they work; and perhaps one of the things which has made it possible for me to come into the training field, running my own consultancy with some success, is that I spent almost a lifetime in management. This has meant that I base my courses not just on theory and book learning, but on practical experience.

Whenever one encounters a great performance on the sports field, in the arts, or in politics, one is immediately conscious of the person's confidence. Whether one is watching Torvill and Dean, Ashkenazy, or the truly great political figures, there is a poise, a certainty, which transmits a positive influence.

The improvement of attitudes towards education is a major concern. Disregard of teachers per se and learning has undermined education and left us with the present unsatisfactory situation. Teachers, parents and children must co‐operate to redress the imbalance, and girls particularly must be encouraged to make better use of their educational abilities.

The Supervisor is one of the most significant employees in an organisation. He is in reality the first level of management with the closest interface with the bulk of the staff, yet regrettably he is often not given the status or support which is needed to make him truly effective. Supervisors' jobs are not easy, whether in production or in the office. They can find themselves in somewhat isolated positions. They are no longer an operative, but equally they do not regard themselves — nor are they usually regarded — as managers; yet they are doing a management job: getting results by motivating people, planning and scheduling work, so that tasks can be accomplished and targets met. To do this they have to call on the same kind of skills as managers, although on a different scale.

What is Management? A number of classic definitions of the purpose and functions of management exist which serve to give overall comprehension and insight into this very complex activity. To state broad principles is very important, as they give the essential perspective to the manager's role. All too often day‐to‐day working on a job, particularly in the rapidly‐changing conditions in which management is practised today, tends to give an ant's eye, rather than a bird's eye, view of the manager's job. So much paper — so many crisis situations — too few resources — too many constraints — make many managers into 'doers” of mini‐tasks, too few into broad vision organisers aiming for results.

This is an open letter to girls still at school, or about to take a job, or plan their careers: a letter which has special significance this year because before long there will be legislation to ensure equal pay for men and women and, probably not long after that, further proposals aiming for equal opportunity will also be put on the statute book.

Tremendous changes are occurring in the field of employment as a result of the diminishing number of school leavers. This total change is a highly significant factor in the area of women′s careers, and one which will provide marvellous opportunities to well‐qualified women. This, and a variety of other topics were among those addressed at a recent conference, “Harnessing the Female Resource”, and forms the basis of this article. The article aims to further the training and development of women and is directed at anyone who has influence in this field‐women themselves, teachers, career counsellors, employers.