Is there a difference between an administrative assistant and a secretary?
Originally, the term secretary with any number of adjectives referred to male aides who usually did much more than replicate paper work. One of the best known is John Hay, the assistant private secretary to one Abraham Lincoln. As women came into the work force, their social status prevented them from wielding the same authority as a man and the position quickly dissolved into phone calls, coffee and dictation. At it’s origination, the term administrative assistant was more in line with the classic secretary and was most prominent in social and non-profit organizations. The relationship with an executive was similar to that of prime minister and the queen. The director was out front while the aide oversaw almost all of the day to day affairs. Once again, primarily due to the women’s movement in the 60’s, this predominantly male title was appropriated as more befitting the less administrative position of secretary. Eventually, administrative assistant came to be practically any single s
