The “Reasonably Bright Girls”: Accessing Agency in the Technical Communication Workplace through Interactional Power

Technical Communication Quarterly Jan 2019

The “Reasonably Bright Girls”: Accessing Agency in the Technical Communication Workplace through Interactional Power

Emily January Petersen Weber State University

Abstract

Women continue to face difficulties in the technical and professional communication (TPC) workplace for a myriad of reasons. However, they are not powerless, and interviews with 39 female practitioners of TPC reveal that they use interactional power to maneuver within and around the system of the traditional workplace to solve problems of devaluation, exclusion, harassment, and siloing. A key aspect of being able to navigate power through interaction is becoming aware of the context in which power struggles take place and then using that knowledge to design new participation. Women who claim agency in the workplace understand that power is not possessed, but that they can access resources to participate in power shifts and dynamics.

Journal: Technical Communication Quarterly
Published: 2019-01-02
DOI: 10.1080/10572252.2018.1540724
Open Access: Closed
Topics: technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

Balghare et al. (2026)

Investigating User Empowerment Through the Fertility App Glow

Technical Communication Quarterly
Malone (2024)

“Technical Editing and Women Scientists Were Made for Each Other”: Ethaline H. …

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Matheson et al. (2020)

Tactics for Professional Legitimacy: An Apparent Feminist Analysis of Indian Wo…

Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (6)

Sullivan et al. (2013)

Time Talk: On Small Changes That Enact Infrastructural Mentoring for Undergradu…

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Rude (2008)

Introduction to the Special Issue on Business and Technical Communication in th…

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Kimball (2006)

Cars, Culture, and Tactical Technical Communication

Technical Communication Quarterly
Johnson-Eilola (1996)

Relocating the Value of Work: Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age

Technical Communication Quarterly
DRAGGA (1993)

Women and the Profession of Technical Writing

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Show all 6 →

ALLEN (1991)

Gender Issues in Technical Communication Studies

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Also cites 13 works outside this index ↓

10.1002/j.2161-1912.2005.tb00020.x

↗
10.1109/47.387770

↗
10.1017/CBO9780511812507

↗
10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.09.001

↗
Feenberg A. (2002)

Transforming technology: A critical theory revisited

↗
10.4324/9780203616574

↗
10.2190/CPIC7

↗
10.5465/amj.2013.0599

↗
10.1145/3068698.3068701

↗
10.7551/mitpress/6875.001.0001

↗
10.1177/0893318901152002

↗
10.1002/ace.332

↗
10.2190/CPI

↗

CrossRef global citation count: 8 View in citation network →