Rethinking leadership in a feminized profession

By Christina Neigel

Like many educators in applied fields, I began my journey as a practitioner, specifically in the field of Library and Information “Science”. After performing as both a support worker (library technician) and as a manager (librarian), I gained important exposure to the ways in which a feminized profession operates. Later, as an instructor and head of a library and information technology department in a moderately sized academic institution, I was responsible for preparing (mostly) women for increasingly complex and changing roles within this field. Through this experience, I began to see the ways in which my peers and former students are able or unable to position themselves as leaders in their workplaces. I question how leaders and leadership are acknowledged and by whom. In turn, I consider the possibility that leaders define the crises and who is needed to lead through those crises (Grint, 2005).

Like many public service organizations, libraries are generally very hierarchically structured. Within these structures, most of the work is performed by women. Furthermore, a 2005 study of Canadian libraries reveals that within the two largest employment sectors, public and academic libraries, “all types of library staff are predominantly women, but that in the uppermost ranks of librarians they are less visible” (Igles, 2005, p. 44). Indeed, it becomes necessary to not only reflect on why this may be the case but also what affects this imbalance may have on the LIS field, as it considers its future.

Because fewer women move into positions of senior administration, despite their dominance in the field as a whole, it is a problem that warrants careful analysis. The disparity suggests that certain forms of privilege may be at play. Like many forms of privilege, how it functions can be incredibly subtle. For example, a cursory examination of formalized leadership training in LIS “leadership institutes” reveals systematic ways of privileging certain members of the field over others. In this example, many of these institutes require a significant degree of travel that requires money and time for participation. Like many public service positions, access to development funds is limited for most librarians. Furthermore, eight out of ten librarians are women (Ingles, 2005) and most likely balance the work of households and families, making travel difficult and something else to be “managed.”

In addition to access to leadership positions, an application of feminist theory may also demonstrate the ways in which certain behaviours are masculinized. The neo-liberal movements in government can be seen to fuel masculinization through rationalized practice (Blackmore & Sachs, 2007). This, too, may reveal reasons why fewer women occupy formal and senior leadership positions in the field.

Searching Library and Information Technology Abstracts, one of two main library studies databases, reveals a paltry supply of articles relating to feminism and gender in the field. The lack of critical reflection relating to gender in library and information work is troubling. If, as Grint suggests, leaders reproduce future leaders and define how the field negotiates its future, it becomes incredibly important for the LIS community to examine new ways of understanding leadership.

Author Bio

Christina Neigel is currently enrolled in SFU’s Education Doctorate in Leadership in Post Secondary Contexts. She is also an Associate Professor in the Library and Information Technology program at the University of the Fraser Valley. She is interested in the ways in which leadership is taken up in the field of librarianship and how leadership is constructed.

References

Blackmore, J., & Sachs, J. (2007). Performing and reforming leaders: Gender, educational restructuring, and organizational change. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Grint, K. (2005) . Leadership: Limits and Possibilities. New York: Palgrave Macmillon.

Ingles, E. et al. (2005). The Future of Human Resources in Canadian Libraries. Retrieved from: http://www.ls.ualberta.ca/8rs/8RsFutureofHRLibraries.pdf