In general, the typewriter was a revolutionary invention. This was especially true for women. The typewriter allowed women to get out of the house and become part of the work force and earn money doing things that were seen as ‘a woman’s job,’ such as being a secretary.[1] The invention of the typewriter created more jobs that were socially acceptable for a woman to have.[2]
It wasn’t long after the invention of the typewriter that it became widely used and seen as a woman’s machine. Around the time of its invention, the typewriter was mainly used in offices. Today, the typewriter is commonly used by people, especially authors, all over the world. For those authors that still use it, they say it gives them a deeper sense of connection to their work. As recently as 2006, in a Golden Globes acceptance speech, a man thanked his typewriter.[3] Even though there are not that many typewriter manufacturers today, there are still quite a few typewriter repair people out there.[4] In some poor areas of the world, using a typewriter is still how some people earn their living.[5]
It was just two generations ago when parents began to coerce and cajole their sons and daughters (one generation ago) to learn typing in high school. Five days a week, one hour classes. The same amount of time was devoted to teaching and learning typing as English and math and science! The vision of the necessity of the typewriter in the work place – even for men – was becoming apparent. At the very least, parents knew it would become a huge asset in college.
Today, when you mess up typing, all you have to do is hit the backspace, whereas when you use a typewriter, it often means you have to rip the whole page out and start the entire thing completely over. Carbon paper, which is often used for things such as receipts, was actually invented for the typewriter. Another thing that was originally invented for the typewriter and is still frequently used by many (but with a different application) is correction fluid. Correction fluid, now often referred to by the brand name “Wite-Out”, is still used by many people to fix mistakes on things written in pen or on typed up printed pages. Someone once said that the goal of the invention was to build a machine that would allow a person to print their thoughts twice as fast as they could write them. The typewriter was a bit of a cumbersome machine, and was very hard to use unless a person had extensive training. Some people were hesitant to embrace the use of a typewriter because it would mean that they could no longer cover up their bad spelling with their poor handwriting.
[1] Angelika Führich, “Woman and Typewriter: Gender, Technology, and Work in Late Weimar Film.” Women in German Yearbook 16 (2000): 151-66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688911.
[2] Cheris Kramarae, Technology And Women’s Voices. 1st ed. Routledge & K. Paul, New York, 1988. Print.
[3] Martyn Lyons, “QWERTYUIOP: How the Typewriter Influenced Writing Practices.” Quaerendo 44, no. 4 (September 2014): 219-240. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
[4] Christopher Lockett, and Kanopy, The Typewriter (In the 21st Century). 2016.
[5] Lockett, 4:05.