11/23/2025
When the telephone first appeared in the 1870s, it was more curiosity than necessity. But as lines spread across cities and towns, people wanted to talk—fast. There was just one problem: calls couldn’t connect themselves.
Every conversation had to pass through a switchboard, a wall of jacks and cords tended by live operators. When you lifted the receiver, a light on the board blinked. An operator plugged in, asked for the number, then physically connected your line to someone else’s.
At first, companies hired teenage boys for the job. It did not go well. They joked with callers, argued, swore, and sometimes disconnected calls on purpose. Worried about customer service and company image, managers turned to a new workforce: young women.
Women were seen—rightly or wrongly—as more polite, patient, and steady. They were also willing to work long hours for lower pay than men. Soon, the exchanges filled with neat rows of women in dark dresses and headsets, hands flying over cords. By the early 1900s, around 80% of operators in the United States were women.
The job offered something rare: wages better than domestic service, and a measure of independence. Yet it was far from glamorous. Operators needed sharp hearing and quick reflexes. They sat for eight-hour shifts, often handling a hundred or more calls per hour. There was strict supervision, no chatting with coworkers, and callers could be rude when connections weren’t perfect.
From the 1920s onward, automatic exchanges slowly replaced manual boards. By the 1970s, the classic switchboard operator had almost disappeared, their role taken over by circuits and software.
But for decades, every “Hello?” on the line passed through a real woman’s hands—and her voice was the first sound of the telephone age.
