Would you have said Yes?

I'd have taken the minutes because I like doing it. I wonder whether they'll bring coffee and biscuits next time!

Teetime, how funny and what an antidote to the former meeting!
Like so many here, I would have said 'Yes' without thinking, but if it then became apparent to me that I had been asked simply because I was female, I would email the chair in advance of the next meeting and politely check who might be doing it next time...

This morning we had a meeting of the same charity but just the management committee - 5 men and me. I have taken biscuits and made the coffee in the past. I did neither today as I'm on a diet and the coffee is foul so I took a small flask from home of nice coffee for me. Guess what. They all sat through a two and half hour meeting without getting a drink and kept moaning about being starving.

I would have just said OK, got on with it and not given one thought as to any 'possible' meaning behind my being asked.

The committee I once belonged to had 2 consecutive male secretaries and I never asked if that was because they feel men are better than women at doing the job or the job is too important for woman to handle.

Sometimes things are simply what they are and 'over thinking' can create more trouble than it's worth. Perhaps Teetime the chairman asked you because he considered you were the best person to fulfil the task, not because of being a female but having the sensible approach to write the Minutes.

To my mind the position of Secretary on a committee is an important / responsible role and I would focus on that point. If however you know / believe the committee you sit on is sexist then that would be a different matter .

agenda not aganda.

number I tried recording a meeting and then transcribing, but I had to listen to the whole lot over again with every digression and repeated exchange, to be sure I missed nothing important.

I sometimes thought it would be easier just to repeat the aganda and call that the minutes. No-one would have noticed. It is also very interesting that how you report the meeting can make all the difference to the impression on those who were not there (and on future reference back to it). The minute-taker has the director's cut on exactly what was said!

Exactly LullyDully- your post did make me laugh. We women can truly be our worst 'enemies', lol. Spot on.

Maggie. Yes I am afraid it is sexist. Men can write as well as women. They did at our senior staff meetings at school.

Have they not hands, brains and biros?

I take the minutes for a group, no one else seems capable although there are 6 women and 1 man. It doesn 't stop me talking and I sometimes think I could write whatever I like and no one would notice!

Why not record them, to be transcribed later?

spot on! The most awful thing is when 'they' ask and then condescend to you with a pat on the back 'you know you ladies are so much better at it'...
I was caught out once with this once - but I am ready for them now ;) and have a few clever answers up my sleeve ...

But as Kitty says, in a meeting requiring important decisions to be made, the person taking the minutes just cannot take full part.

I like WilmaKnikkersFit's response 'raise the subject of cover for the Secretary, saying it does prevent the stand in from taking part properly in the meeting.' either cover will be found or if not the duty will have to rotate when the secretary is absent. That should settle it.

All you need say is that you have taken your turn. I think you were probably asked because you are a woman but I think that doing it once and then emailing the chair to say that cover needs to be formalised for future occasions should cover it.

I'm rubbish at taking minutes so this would have been a difficult one. I suspect I would have squirmed a bit and suggested I would do it if necessary but I'm sure others would be more capable, in the hope that someone else would volunteer.

I suppose secretary=woman, many people can't get past that, but probably, most men wouldn't be able to take minutes! Oh gosh, is that sexist, ha.

I would probably have suggested that if there was anyone who could do a better job of it than me they should step up as I'm not a great minute taker.

Just back from a meeting where a woman took the minutes but the women also out the tables and chairs out and away despite me saying very loudly 'Right chaps, can you help us put away please'. How did that happen? One of them did switch the heating off though.

However when I joined a local chess club where I was the only female I wS asked to make the tea! I refused!

It would not occur to me that it was because I was female. I am on the Village Hall committee where my husband is chair and whenever the (female) secretary is away I take the minutes. But if we are both away one of the men does it though there are other women. And my husband was secretary before he was chairman!

I would have done it because I know I CAN.
Poor minutes are very frustrating!!

jingl

probably would have. I like to be helpful and of use.

On reflection, DH wouldn't have supported my "No" and probably said I could carry on doing them ad nauseum...

Thank you for putting good ideas into my head - no longer an automatic "Yes" because I'm nice and female etc., etc.

Been there so many times- and yes, I agreed, but was always annoyed deep down that it was expected of me as the woman present.

But now I'd say 'I'll do it today, but can we take it in turn alphabetically from then on in such cases'. Did that just the other day actually.

I would have said yes. When I was working we used to swap minute taking so everyone got a turn and gained the experience !!!You may suggest this innocently but firmly.

Like so many other GNers, I would probably have said yes automatically. I didn't realise the implications until I reached the end of the post.
We instituted the idea of everyone having a turn at minuting a staff meeting, when I was still working. The quality of results did vary, but I still think it a worthwhile, as it made everyone a bit more sympathetic to the difficulties of the task (I hope).

I used to take the minutes when I worked for a conservation charity. Then I realised the Chairman was taking them at the same time. He would give me his minutes for typing. It was as if he didn't trust me to take them. I started writing less and less at the meetings because I knew my notes weren't going to be looked at!