Library Web Chic

Dorothea has a nice post in response to Rachel’s query regarding what is being (publicly) said and not said about the gender issue in systems librarianship. Karen continues this thread with a great picture from her days in the Air Force. Both ladies points out that in private people are willing to say much more than in public for a number of reasons. One, women are worried about it hurting their daily work life if they speak up. Two, women are worried about it affecting their effectiveness from a professional development standpoint. Three, women feel complaining or discussing the issues will only get them seen as “a woman” and therefore not good at technology. Four, women are afraid that they “might piss off someone important, or they’ll be labeled as not being a team player”.

I, myself, am not without these worries. I was recently asked if I was interested if serving on a planning committee for a certain conference and found myself wondering if I should be more careful exactly what I said about the gender issue in public. Not because of the fact that I’m afraid for my career but that the firestorm that I might create would result in people digging in rather than try to change. Furthermore, I reasoned, this isn’t really what I wanted my blog to be about, at least not overtly (subtly it is sort of me sticking my tongue out at all the guys who say that women can be good at library tech).
Then I got to re-reading the comments and emails that I got on my posts about the issue, looking at who was linking to my posts, and thinking about the conversations I’ve had with people. I realized that, whether they are willing to admit it publicly or not, this is an issue which has meaning for lots of women out there. I’m fortunate enough to never have worked in places were the gender issue was really one of great concern. If someone says something I thought was sexist or sexually harrassing I’m willing to call them on it.  But the issue goes way beyond that. As Dorothea says it is a problem in “communities of practice”. It is also a problem of role models, support networks, and feeling because of the landscape you are doing something that you shouldn’t be doing. That you are the ugly duckling.

This support network issue is one which has always been ever-present for me especially when I worked in a smaller library. One of the happiest moments in my career was when we hired an adjunct libraran at Cortland to so some reference work who had a technology bent. It gave me someone to collaborate with on projects, to learn from and to teach, and to (if I may be so bold) bring along in the career. Not feeling alone or like you don’t belong is very important to making women want to enter and stay in the technical areas of the library profession.
This is one of the main reason why I think that we can’t stay quiet about these issues. As long as we stay quiet and we don’t know who else is out there and as a result we feel alone. By talking, collaborating, and helping each other along the way, we can make a space for ourselves, our own community of practice where we can talk and not feel uncomfortable. That isn’t to say that we should stop participating in other co-ed tech thing or trying to make the things better by advocating for change. It is to say that what we really need is each other.