like "sorceress"
You know what I would really like? A course on gender studies in library science. I'm sitting here in class and sort of giving a head-tilt to some of the things going on here.
I mean, the quotes from Dewey about how women should be librarians because it's "less exacting physically" than teaching, because we're passive, deferent, nurturing, quiet and moral--those are giggle-worthy and sort of expected from his time-period. "Women were cheap." Okay, that was actually my Foundations prof, and he really could have phrased that better. He probably could have given his Powerpoint a filename other than "Women REVISED," but that's not the point.
The point is, a lot of those thoughts, at least as far as libraries go, have not changed.
I'm in Management class (yes, right now), and we're discussing an article from 10 or 15 years ago. The (female) author claimed that "male-style information specialists" who emphasize technology and virtual access are a threat to the social construction of libraries (emphasis mine). Why male-style? I'm down with virtual access, and *checks* nope, no penis here. I laughed at the whole "passive, deferent, nurturing" characterization of female librarians in the last class, because I don't remotely think it's true--come over here and I'll show you passive and deferent, Mr. Dewey! But here's a living librarian writing this, and she's allying men with the impersonal technology that, according to her, threatens libraries.
I'm just getting weird mixed messages about the intentions and future of library hiring policies. Do we want diversity in gender in the field, or are we trying to keep librarianship some sort of women's enclave? Because if we are, it's kind of odd that we tend to fast-track men into management positions. And pay them about 7% more at all levels. But I don't think we should be trying to keep the field somehow female-exclusive. Then the question becomes--is the gender disparity (about 80% female) because of hiring practices or because of the public perception of the job itself? And is that perception a cause or effect of the employee makeup?
And whoops, apparently she was the professor's Ph.D advisor, so I should maybe not have turned on the mic and rambled about how much I disagreed with her. Whatever.
Also, one girl at a satellite campus was discussing the status of librarianship in the minds of the public--she used the terms fireman, policeman, and lunchladies. Fun with contrasting gendered terms!
And in closing, have a link to this very relevant Penny Arcade comic. I just made it my desktop background.