Being Asked to Take Notes

Welcome back to the Stay Relevant advice column, where we answer readers’ burning questions about their careers and how thrive in a fast-changing workplace.

Send your questions to candace@candacemoody.com

When we have an important team meeting or meet with clients, my boss always asks me to take notes. I wouldn’t mind (I’m good at it) but I’m wondering why he never asks any of the guys to do it. I’m starting to suspect that it’s because I’m female and, in his mind, it’s “women’s work.”

Am I being subtly disrespected? Should I have a talk with him?

Scribe Is Not a Promotion

Dear Scribe:

For decades, most women in the office were secretaries, whose job it was to support the men who did the “real” work. Bringing coffee, cleaning up after meetings, and taking notes and distributing them were all included in a day’s work. Even after women took on more technical roles, they were often the junior person on the team, which made them the most likely candidate to be asked to take notes.

Some people still think that way. Your boss may be a relic of a previous time (no matter his actual age.) He might be signaling to you, the team, and the clients, that your role is more administrative than strategic. Or he might simply be reluctant to fix what’s not broken.

In each of these scenarios, you’ll benefit from a change. I would approach him at a good time with a simple policy that’s fair for everyone. “I don’t mind taking the notes at meetings occasionally. It’s a valuable skill to have, and an important part of making sure we’re as effective as possible. I’d like to suggest that we take turns doing it, so everyone gets the benefit of learning to pay close attention to detail and summarize issues well. Will you consider a system where John, Paul, Ringo, and I rotate the notetaking regularly?”

Your boss’s reaction will give you lots of useful insight. He might be surprised – he may never have thought about it before. He might say “Fine – you work it out among yourselves.” That’s not ideal; you may not have the personal or positional authority to make someone take over what they perceive as your work.

Or, you might get a clear indication that he’s stuck (see paragraph 2 above.) If that’s the case, you might need to start thinking about finding a new role with a team that believes that the joy of admin support is even more joyful when shared equally.

Best Wishes – Candace