Imagine Cleopatra as a law librarian.
(Let me give you moment to wrap your mind around that thought.)
Consider the following:
- April 10 – 16, 2011 is National Library Week.
- April 11, 2011 was Equal Pay Day, the day that symbolizes how far into the year women must work on average to earn what men earn.
- The American Association of Law Libraries’ 2009 Biennial Salary Survey makes the following statement:
- According to the American Library Association – Allied Professional Association’s Better Salaries and Pay Equity Toolkit:
It should also be noted that the prevailing market rates of compensation for librarians, including those for law librarians as depicted in this report, may reflect a societal undervaluation of the education, knowledge and competencies associated with librarianship. Numerous studies have found an apparent gender-based devaluation of the work of professions and occupations that are predominantly female. Librarianship has been a predominantly female occupation since the late 1800s.
Although gains have been made over the years in gender equity within librarianship, most library salary surveys still point to higher average salaries for men than for women. [emphasis added]
Now compare what you’ve just read to the following excerpt from Stacy Schiff’s superb new biography of Cleopatra:
Cleopatra … came of age in a country that entertained a singular definition of women’s roles. …Egyptian women enjoyed the right to make their own marriages. Overtime their liberties had increased to levels unprecedented in the ancient world. They inherited equally and held property independently. Married women did not submit to their husband’s control. They enjoyed the right to divorce and to be supported after a divorce. Until the time an ex-wife’s dowry was returned, she was entitled to be lodged in the house of her choice. Her property remained hers; it was not to be squandered by a wastrel husband. The law sided with the wife and children if the husband acted against their interests. … As much as one third of Ptolemaic Egypt may have been in female hands.
When you think of the extensive legal and financial rights women enjoyed in the first century BCE in Egypt, it’s a little shocking to consider how long it took women to win similar rights in this country. And, even though we’ve made advances, it appears that much remains to be done for women working in the “traditionally female” domain of libraries. In fact, in light of the pay inequities suffered by women librarians, it’s hard not to wonder if we aren’t backwards in our views of women when compared to ancient Egyptians.
To be honest, I’m not sure that Cleopatra would ever agree to be a 21st century female law librarian. Given her high level of education, political skill and leadership ability, do you think she would have tolerated the inequities?
Why do we?
[Photo Credit: William Arthur Fine Stationery]
Above and Beyond KM 
As a male law librarian, I'll step in here and say that the law library field is still a female dominated profession (I just sat in a meeting with the local law library association where the room was probably 90% female.) However, I think there are a lot of benefits that being a law librarian bring, outside of the issue of pay. Both my wife and I are librarians (she's currently an elementary librarian, but was formerly a corporate librarian in a legal dept.) We always say that if you compared being a librarian to the game of Careers, it is a profession with a lot of “hearts”, perhaps some “stars”, but definitely not one that will get you a lot of dollar signs. Perhaps that doesn't make up for the inequity that female librarians may receive when compared to their male counter-parts, but there is some benefits to the “hearts” and “stars” of this profession.
Greg –
It's great that librarians value their profession and that they recognize
the non-monetary benefits it provides. That said, why do the smart and
generous people in that profession tolerate pay inequity? And, given the
demographics, why does the overwhelming female majority in the profession
put up with it?
– Mary
As one from the law firm library front, I ask myself this everyday. I tell myself it's because I have 3 children with one starting college this fall. 🙂 It's not just pay inequities, though. It's the whole lawyer/non-lawyer mind set. What other profession refers to those outside the profession as “non”?
Since I'm not a librarian, it's the pay inequities that jumped out at me
first. If the senior women and men in the library profession worked to
ensure pay equity, that would be a strong message for people outside the
profession (including lawyers) regarding the value of librarians.
– Mary