ADVICE TO THE WORKING WOMAN

Sam Ion--Ms., thank you--writes an advice-to-the-careerlorn-woman column in several Canadian newspapers. Judging by some of the letters reprinted here, her readers appear to be largely women totally unable to fend for themselves in the corporate environment (though occasional comic relief is provided by the male buffoons who persist in calling female colleagues ""gals,"" or cheerfully insist on seducing their secretaries as a prerequisite for promotion). The letters, and Ion's responses, are primarily illustrations to strengthen her ramblings on career advancement, office etiquette, appropriate office dress, the inappropriateness of office affairs, sexism, sexual harassment, and the like. Perhaps the most serviceable chapter deals with starting your own business: women who begin their own businesses are four times as successful as self-employed men, Ion insists; and besides giving women some pointers on how to come up with ideas, she proffers specific advice on catering businesses, crafts, freelance writing and typing services, employment agencies, etc. But the bulk of this deals with trivial issues that arise in the throes of social change: who should get out of the elevator first in a man-woman situation; how to use a cup of coffee as a weapon against the office lecher; the double standard by which a man's status increases and a woman's decreases when they're having an affair. For those who've been stuck in a secretarial slot for years without a glimmer of a way out, possibly; for anyone with a bit more on the ball, the old standards like The Managerial Woman or Games Mother Never Taught You offer more in the way of substance.