Emma M Nutt Day
I’ve decided to honour National Day’s Not Saints days but all the odd, weird, funny National Days we hear about on the web.
So today is #NationalDay celebrating Emma M Nutt Day the first professional female telephone operator.
When telephone companies began hiring operators, they originally chose teenage boys for the job, but soon resolved women had more pleasant voices, and much more patience. To be an operator, a woman had to be unmarried, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-six. She had to look prim and proper, and have arms long enough to reach the top of the tall telephone switchboard.She agreed to work long shifts for low pay Before the advent of automatic exchanges, it was impossible to make any call without the assistance of an operator. For many years they were the heart of the telephone system (and their individual communities), managing switchboards containing up to 200 phone lines, and listening in through clunky metal headsets. The telephone operators were pioneers in communication history, proving women could handle a tough job with skill and confidence, and opened doors for women who wanted to work outside the home. On this day in 1878, Emma Nutt began her job with the Boston Telephone Despatch, and takes her place in history as the first woman telephone operator.
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Never heard of this lady
Now I’ve learnt a new fact
Thanks x