Things that have changed, off the top of my head: -- Typing and distributing paper reports used to be a big part of the workday. You needed someone who could n

Things that have changed, off the top of my head: -- Typing and distributing paper reports used to be a big part of the workday. You needed someone who could not only type an error-free 70+ words per minute, but also who knew how to format documents properly (headers, footers, page numbers, envelopes, etc), and who could take care of the reproduction, packaging and mailing. -- Setting up meetings would require phoning around to other people, or more likely, their secretaries. -- Travel arrangements would need to be taken care of manually by calling a travel agent, collecting paper tickets in advance, etc. -- From the "supply" side, institutionalized gender discrimination meant that there was a steady supply of cheap labor that didn't have a lot of other alternatives, career-wise. Computers killed the typing pool. The WWW and email killed the need for dedicated support staff for all but the highest-value employees. (Greater) equality in the workplace means that women have other career options, putting upward pressure on compensation for executive assistants.