Measured in terms of actual participation:
OCLC’s report on Web 2.0 features five men and one woman.
Sunday’s LITA Top Tech Trends Panel at ALA: seven men, including the moderator; one woman (me).
ALA’s “Future of Search” presentation: three men.
Yes, I’m just plucking three events/publications out of the recent bibliomiasma… but these are all big-buzz hoo-hahs.
I’m not pointing fingers. But here’s a fact: we just don’t have enough women engaged in key discussions of the day.
Provocative questions #1: are women less willing to do what it takes to get to a conference, get recognized, get published? As a group, are we shy about being Shameless Hussies?
Provocative questions #2: are they-what-does-thepickin’ less likely to recognize women for their ability to contribute to current issues? Is the bar set higher for women? (Note how I didn’t single out one gender here.)
Posted on this day, other years:
- Open source software in school libraries - 2008
- Tallahassee Writers, Artists, Etc.: Take This Survey - 2007
- Librarian Nerds Rule! - 2007
- My Life, My Work: A Brief Update - 2007
- ALA Annual 2007: The Best and the Worst of it All - 2007
Unfortunately, this woman spent all her time in meetings and leading meetings. I find that many times you will find women running vital meetings throughout the conference. The leadership of the Legislative Assembly for ALA and the AASL Affilate Assembly were primarily female. Affiliate Assembly will be more balanced next year for the first time with both a chair and a chair-elect that are male while the past-chair (ME) and the secretary are female.
It may be true that women hesitate more to be the shameless hussies and market themselves. I have great ideas, but it takes something to push me into sharing those and I chose to do it through my blog and one-on-one. Only great events like my son’s life-flight 3 years ago, cause me to move from my comfort zone into the leadership role. Keep up encouraging people to step out. I think we need to do more to note the women in our field that should be heard. Last year during AASL’s closing session the panel was all-male and it definitely drew comments. Who are the leaders we should be hearing from?
All three things you mention are not only current issues, but technology issues. As one of the women on the tech-side of librarianship, I notice a lack of women in this sub-set of our female-majority profession. This is not odd though, considering the worldwide deprivation of women in technology careers.
And a teensy correction: I was on the TTT panel too, although in absentia and represented in my absence by a male (Walt did a great job I’m told).
Sarah, yes, it was nice to see you contribute to the discussion online. Still, it’s not the same as being present on the panel in the big room, etc. I realize you have to pick and choose your conferences… and that Karen Coyle has to be other places too… but in the end, there was one woman on the panel.
Diane is pointing to another problematic outcome: with fewer women engaged in the hot issues, they get stretched more thinly.
I spoke at the 30th anniversary of the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship where we did discuss these issues. Perhaps what we need is more involvement in the FTF and COSWL.
Also, since you left– look who writes for American Libraries? Very lopsided.
I have a bad feeling that FTF and COSWL are aging quickly. I was pleased to see “Jane” of A Wandering Eyre comment on the need for women in leadership. How do we make FTF and COSWL relevant to a new generation–and how do we make their activities relevant? Do we need a survey of “no really, what are the gender breakdowns these days?”
I’m not sure what you mean by COSWL and FTF “aging.” The incoming chair of COSWL is ShinJoung Yeo, a young Reference Librarian from Stanford University. I would say she is under 35.
The problem is that so many people abandon their roots (women’s focus) and forget how many of the women in the profession do work for equity.
FRL has many readers. Please go to the COSWL action list and sign on to help:
http://www.ala.org/ala/hrdr/abouthrdr/hrdrliaisoncomm/statusofwomen/coswlactionlist.htm
Hi Karen, I was at 2 out of 3 of these programs and noticed the lack of female presence as well. This was my first ALA conference (I’m currently a student — ’til December!), and I am definitely fired up to participate as soon as possible. Another program where I noticed this issue was at “Where They are and What are they Doing? Supporting the Independent User” — 2 men, 0 women. The other issue with this program — as well as a good portion of the others — No young folks. The programs are all about technology and social software and reaching and connecting with our users and the only folks talking about it are 35+…Don’t get me wrong, I thought the presenters were excellent and extremely knowledgable (I learned a ton!), but there were times that I found myself wanting to jump in with suggestions and opinions from a younger perspective.
Also — Thanks for your blog, I really enjoy it! It was nice to see you speak in person as well :)!
I agree with Sarah that it’s telling that all your examples relate to technology. I think for a lot of us it’s a question of balance: I started thinking about getting out of systems librarianship the day I had to come in from vacation for 10+ hours to deal with NIMDA — and having my son clinched it. I still write and think about technology, but I’m not involved with it on a day-to-day basis in the same way.
Just wanted to note that most of the people who have worked on OCLC reports in the last three years are women, and that the Newsletter to which you refer is the responsibility of a woman. Not saying this addresses the issue of where women are in the practice of librarianship–although maybe this is where some of us are! How many female librarians leave “active duty” and go to work for library-related companies where they may be able to have more of an impact than they would have otherwise? Well, me, for one.
Alane, yes, here’s my point: we’re very good at working in the background. But how many women are in the foreground? I counted male faces in that report. Are men just better storefront props? Are they more credible in the topic of technology?
Kathleen, I like your point, which is that I’m making assumptions about COSWL.
Jami, you point up the age gap as well. 35-plus does seem “older,” though I gulp as I say that, given that I’m 48. (My mental age is 11, so maybe that’s ok.) I’m glad that even at my advanced age I still put on a good show!
Rachel, I know what you’re saying. That’s a big part of the pickle right there. I remember this from the military (the Cold War military, I might add) that long sacrificial hours were the norm, and you either bought into it and moved ahead or didn’t and fell behind.
In general, there were more male early-adaptors to technology and are now are the voices with more experience (perhaps?). Personally, I worked in an Air Force Library (one of the displaced by contractors set) early in the 90s and being the adventurous type took over the library systems, etc. Even taught Internet classes to mostly mail Airmen who were afraid of the mouse (and yes, some Airmen were women). There was a genuine debate about my title — “webmaster” was not gender-correct, “webmistress” didn’t seem right.
So many of the founders of the FTF and COSWL went on to other activities in ALA. I was happy to see so many past chairs at the 30th Anniversary Party. To me COSWL is sort of like NOW or NARAL. We all support these groups in theory, but what have we done lately to ensure that things move forward?
If lack of participation by women is a concern, then maybe a reaffirmation of the work of COSWL is in order. Have you read the latest COSWL supported report:
On Account of Sex: An Annotated Bibliography on the Status of Women in Librarianship,1998-2002.Edited by Betsy Kruger and Catherine Larson. (Scarecrow, -8108-5227-6 Mar 2006.252pp).
I am kind of on a soapbox here but maybe COSWL has seemed like wall-paper. it shouldn’t. It is all of our voice if we lend support and interest. If you want a study consider asking!
Thank you for listening.
Personally I used to be much more active and pro-active, but I’ve found that having a family takes away many of those opportunities. From what I’ve seen women make tremendous efforts in less than ideal workplaces to come up with reliable and quality day care for their kids, to nurse the babies, to make sure good food is on the table (I sent my husband out with the one year old one evening and they came back having had cookies and french fries for dinner…), and to hold down the family fort. Granted that the early years of child raising don’t last long, but take a few years off from being in the forefront of technology and it is hard to come back! That, and the fact that many workplaces have cut back hours and there is less time to ‘play’ with new things and we women, well, we like to get things done.
I personally didn’t travel to New Orleans because I didn’t have anyone to care for my daughter (who is still nursing) while I’d be in sessions, and did see any great on-site daycare being offered. Maybe if we were paid salaries that allowed for hiring and traveling with nannies. I doubt any of the men were single dads with this problem.
One of the COSWL projects when I was chair was childcare. We would reimburse parents with children initially for their childcare. Later childcare –thanks to COSWL–is a conference service. It really was a big effort made by COSWL and it can happen again.
This isn’t perfect but it is a start AND it could get better if people would show support and request additional resources. The idea is entrenched…now it needs to be expanded. I brought my daughter to ALA for years and years.
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Here’s New Oreans childcare information:
Make this year’s annual meeting a family affair. Once again, ACCENT on Children’s Arrangements, Inc. has planned a great children’s activity center for ALA attendees’ children. ACCENT is a nationally recognized professional childcare company organized to provide quality on-site children’s activities in a nurturing, safe, educational environment. ACCENT’s counselors are fun-loving professionals with plenty of experience with children. The camp will operate at Morial Convention Center from Friday, June 23 through Tuesday, June 27, 7:30 am to 6:00 pm daily. Children must be between 3 months and 17 years of age.
ALA will reimburse the charges expended on Camp ALA child care in the amount of $32 per day, per child to a maximum of $64 per day, per family to any fully-registered parent for each day of the Annual Conference week, June 23-27, 2006. The total cost of the care per child, per day is $80, with $48 paid by the parent member, and $32 paid by the Association. This covers only child care in the ALA day care center, Camp ALA. ALA will not reimburse child care expenses to delegates who live within the New Orleans area that would be paid to a regular provider whether the parent was attending the Annual Conference or not.
http://www.ala.org/ala/eventsandconferencesb/annual/2006a/geninfo.htm#childcare
Dorothea over at Caveat Lector has a good response, as well, which brought up chilly frissons of why I was happy to get out of the military…
For me, it is difficult to get to conferences because of the lack of funding at our school. I would love to participate in the discussions and do everything I can online. They wanted more women in college, so they gave scholarships and that could work if it is our goal.
However, coming from the business world where I succeeded in a man’s world, I wanted to be recognized because I was good. Period. There are many excellent women edubloggers out there. I have to wonder if a disproportianate number hide behind pseudonyms for safety reasons and if that could have an impact. Just wondering.
Great post!
Someone has to think about it. And then do it.
I truly believe that it really isn’t that people are being sexist or stupid. They don’t think about it. They don’t think about getting columnists or speakers or article writers that reflect the profession (still 80 percent female last I checked). If we make feminism a practice, like prayer, like meditation, we practice by choosing women. We practice by using female examples. We practice by making that decision.
When I was editor of the late, lamented WLB, and when I worked at LJ and SLJ, I strove, always, to get women to write, to write first, to write often. When I planned ALA programs, I asked women, sometimes many women, to speak and to teach.
Women always — still! now! — have so much home and hearth and family stuff that is theirs to care for. That makes it harder. But we can be the change we want to see in the world.
Mother goddess, it is so hard to see this coming up again. Yes, I am older, and more tired. But we can do this. We can.
Honestly, one reason my writing nom de plume is K.G. Schneider is my hope that in some situations I might just get a teensy edge because the editor assumes I’m a man, at least for a moment. (Male Like Me?) That and K.G. is a family nickname.
Graceanne, I so love your point. Sisters doin’ it for themselves!
Two thumbs up for GraceAnne. We can do this!
Well, but it isn’t enough for sisters to it for themselves. We need more men who think like this too. Even as the father of two thirteen-year-old girls, I can testify that it is all too easy to forget about specifically pursuing women as speakers, writers, etc. I’ve been as guilty of it as anyone.
And I admit that Dorothea’s comments about code4lib struck home enough that I went back and changed my votes for keynote speakers. Sure, I had voted for one women of three, it needs to be better than that. Code4Lib is still too much a boys club, and it needs to stop. I really don’t think it is conscious discrimination, but as has been pointed out, the unconscious discrimination is sufficient in repelling more female participation. Therefore, I will redouble my efforts to attract and retain women in that and other communities of which I am part, which of course also means cleaning up our collective acts.
I count myself a feminist, so I’d better start acting like it. We should all be feminists, but the father of daughters should be first among feminists, since we have both the power and the motivation to make the necessary changes.
i’m male, and i know that jumping into this discussion might get me in trouble, but i’ve been really wondering about why women haven’t been more “visible” (in quotes because visibility is relative) considering that our profession is so obviously dominated by females. and it’s not like the catholic church, where women have been shut out by papal order.
speaking of IT, i’d say that there is still a disproportionate number of men with high profiles. and i don’t think it’s just IT. i’m not quite sure, but i think it was only last year that two men actually ran for the presidency of a fairly large organization composed primarily of women. what’s going on?
btw, in case i’m not being clear, i think of myself as a feminist. i’m not putting the women down with this comment =)
I hear you, Filipino Librarian. Besides, look what we elected when two men ran for ALA president…
Roy, you are so right. But sisters still do have to do it for themselves and not wait for men. If we don’t set the example, how do we expect the men to follow? I helped organize a LITA program for Annual, and two out of three presenters were male. Yes, the emcee was female (and both women really ran with that program), but still! I need to eat my own dog food.
This is a situation where all around we need more effort. Women need to try a little harder to participate. People organizing events–male or female or anything else–need to be more aware of who they’re including and more sensitive to women’s issues such as childcare (and yes, it’s a men’s issue too, but women still carry the bulk of home caregiving). The work goes on, the cause endures…
Oh, and Library Web Chic has a super post on gender and biblio-IT issues.
Roy, as the son of a feminist, the husband of a feminist and the father of a little girl who will–assuming my wife and I do our job right–grow up to be a feminist, I have to say: right on! Feminism isn’t a “women’s issue,” it’s an “everybody’s issue.” I’m no kind of man if a woman isn’t treated as my equal.
I want to say much much more, but the words elude me at the moment. I think everyone here (and elsewhere–Dorothea, I particularly like your most recent post about this) has said what I want to say. Just know that if women lead the way, I’m gonna walk right behind you as you do. And then I’ll catch up and walk with you, side by side.
I’m pretty new to blogging. When I first put up posts, I used my initials – I hesitated to put my full name out into the online world. Who was I, after all? What had I published?
Most people have a lot of balls in the air – job, home, and children – and it’s hard to find the time to move out of your local space. Blogging is an easy first step for many of us. Grabbing 5 or 10 minutes of online time vs. finding the funds to attend a conference makes it easier for me to ‘get published’.
The only reason I can start attending more conferences? Our children have grown up and my husband and I have more time and money to spend on our own professional development.
It’s who has enough of an “in” into the old boys’ club to push the door wide open. It’s a statistical lack of women in technology. It’s who has the perceived confidence or authority to speak, to have voice, be it in-person or in a published format. It’s who has the types of jobs (management, academic library) that will fund and/or encourage participation in these activities. I’m female and in a female-dominated field, though in a male-dominated sub-set of that field (technology). That’s enough to garner me my fair share of unwanted attention in a bad way, but not enough to garner attention in a good way as a rare female-tech-commodity? It is frustrating not to have very many women kinfolk to banter with about L2.0, “all your base,” and FRBR. I think the answer is to encourage each other, to make fellow women understand that having a voice, speaking to others, isn’t all that big, bad, or scary. And getting the people in positions of editorial power (be they themselves male or female) to understand that one doesn’t have to be male and greying to speak to have a valid voice in the first place. And Roy–yet again, I must admit publicly that you rock so hard the windows shake.
It’s not just technology. The AASL Conference in Pittsburg had a similar problem: http://www.noodletools.com/aasl/archives/138 . As Doug Johnson says, “For a good old girls club, AASL is sending some pretty strange messages. Men have cred; women don’t. Academics are worth listening to; the practitioner ain’t.” Apparently it’s a case of the apple (AASL) not falling far from the tree (ALA). Ditto LITA and the other “apples”.
Marcia Bates used her acceptance speech at ASIS&T last year to discuss the treatment of women professors in LIS. From what I understand others remember her time at Maryland differently than she does, but at least her perception was that male professors were given better teaching assignments and more freedom to do research.
So do men in ASIS&T have more cred than women, too? I don’t think so because many of the articles we rely heavily upon in our training were written by women (Bates, Kuhlthau, Tenopir, etc), but I think Bates disagrees.
There’s also the small fact that even the most geeky of librarians can fall prey to to the “My eye teeth for a boring life!” syndrome and end up valuing comfort over evangelism, even for 12 months. As someone who vacillates from pure IT to library and back again, I can testify that even tech librarianism (er??) is far more comfortable than being a woman in the male-edged world of “pure IT”. It’s very easy to sit back on one’s (admittedly earned) laurels and be awarded street cred just for knowing what blogs, RSS, wikis, Web 2.0 ARE. Then taking up the fight to have them taken as serious tools of the trade becomes way too much like hard work when, from bitter experience, you know you’ve got an uphill battle just persuading the IT managers to give the librarians unrestricted access to Teh Intarweb, rather than automatically blocking anything that doesn’t look like “real” work (image sites can’t possibly be associated with real work, you see; neither can news sites, or institution blogs, and so on).
So one ends up coasting along just on top of the wave, knowing but not implementing; talking but not fighting. And certainly not volunteering to put in the effort required to become Library 2.0 in the flesh because heaven knows, it’s hard enough just doing it online.
Hmmm … there’s a thought I just had (sorry for the ramble!). We geeklibrarians are more or less where the very first real geeks were at when the Web was new. Are we all so comfortable online that the thought of having to literally “press the flesh” gives us the screaming horrors? The boys have been doing it longer; they’ve learnt to overcome the stereotype. Female geeks, however, had to come to the stereotype from the other side; from the side of the “naturally gregarious”, and some of us clutch our hard-won reputations for anti-sociability rather close to our MacBooks.
And now we’re expected to get out there and be role models?? *boot quake*
Give us a couple more years to learn about this sociability thing – THEN we can take over the worulld! (What are we doing today, Pinky??).
Fiona, one issue you touch on in your excellent comment that I’ve been thinking about is the problem of the burned-out, stretched-out token female. You’re constantly watching your back (oooh, that shameless hussy, let’s trash her ideas!), often feeling obligated to accept as many “opportunities” as possible (if I don’t do it, who will represent our gender, etc.), and as you point out, grimly trying to actually *implement* technology services in library settings, which in many organizations is a little crazy-making to begin with.
K. McCook: I tried to sign up for the COSWL action list a few moments ago, but I got a message back saying that it is closed. Maybe that’s why it’s not relevant?
The programme committee for the VALA conferences http://www.vala.org.au/previous.htm tries not only for a reasonable gender balance (the last 3 have been 1/3 women as Keynotes) but also to ensure representation from outside North America and Europe. For our next conference (2008) we are looking for contributors from Africa &/or South America.
Would be really nice if we could find women keynotes from outside North America & Europe.