Hope Olson, a professor at the University of Alberta, has a neat web page summarizing the History of a Female Profession. It contains internal links to numerous (of her own) summaries of important works in the area of women in librarianship. She introduces the issue as follows:
Hope Olson, a professor at the University of Alberta, has a neat web page summarizing the History of a Female Profession. It contains internal links to numerous (of her own) summaries of important works in the area of women in librarianship. She introduces the issue as follows:
Three themes mark the history of librarianship as a female-intensive profession:
- the transfer of feminine gifts from private to public women\’s sphere – service, children, etc.
- clerical abilities, routine, detail
- lower salaries, lower positions
Dewey\’s recruiting speech to \”college-bred women\” in 1886 established a pattern that might be considered either exploitative or enabling. It was characterized by flattery, missionary zeal and excuses to attract the graduates of women\’s colleges who were attaining degrees at a rising rate and looking for fulfilling and socially acceptable careers.
- Flattery — women going into librarianship were a \”picked class selected from the best\”
— their undergraduate degrees give them knowledge and ability
- Missionary zeal — librarians give people the best to read and are even more influential than teachers or clergy
- Excuses for lower salaries — the fulfilment
Justin Winsor\’s infamous quote (London, 1877) carries much the same message and tone:
\”In the Boston Public Library two-thirds of the librarians are women. In American libraries we set a high value on women\’s work. They soften our atmosphere, they lighten our labour, they are equal to our work, and for the money they cost–if we must guage such labour by such rules–they are infinitely better than equivalent salaries will produce of the other sex.\”
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