Women in the Museum
The number of women working in museum settings has grown exponentially since the start of the twentieth century. Women in the Museum explores the professional lives of the sectors female workforce today and examines the challenges they face working in what was, until recently, a male-dominated field.
Drawing on testimony gathered from surveys, focus groups, and interviews with female museum professionals, the book examines the nature of gender bias in the profession, as well as womens varied responses to it. In doing so, it clarifies how womens work in museums differs from mens and reveals the entrenched nature of gender bias in the museum workplace. Offering a clear argument as to why museums must create, foster, and protect an equitable playing field, the authors incorporate a gender equity agenda for individuals, institutions, graduate programs, and professional associations.
Written by experienced museum professionals, Women in the Museum is the first book to examine the topic in depth. It is useful reading for students and academics in the fields of museum studies and gender studies, as well as museum professionals and gender equality advocates.
Joan H. Baldwin is co-founder of the Gender Equity in Museums Movement and a former museum director. She is currently the Curator of Special Collections at The Hotchkiss School, USA, and is co-author of Leadership Matters (2013).
Anne W. Ackerson is co-founder of the Gender Equity in Museums Movement and a former director of the Museum Association of New York, USA. She has managed a number of museums across New York state and is coauthor of Leadership Matters (2013).
First published 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2017 Taylor & Francis
The right of Joan H. Baldwin and Anne W. Ackerson to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-62958-234-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-62958-235-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-18478-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This project would not have happened without the hundreds of women who provided their stories and their inspiration to us. It all began, however, with the help of John Strand, who was the publisher at the American Alliance of Museums Press when we approached him in 2014 with our proposal to write the first book since the 1990s about women in the museum workplace. Without hesitation, John saw the value of this project and eventually guided us to Left Coast Press, where we signed a contract later that year.
We recall one of our earliest conversations over breakfast with a group of women who were to become an important sounding board for us as we got our research underway. Their personal stories of denied access and outright discrimination were at once heartfelt and unnerving. Their message to us was a resounding This story must be told! tempered with their desire for advice that would be useful to museum leaders and up-and-coming female professionals who might find themselves in similar workplace situations.
Critical to the success of the projects early research phase were Conny Graft and Susie Wilkening, both of whom have considerable museum surveying and evaluation skills. They spent a great deal of time reviewing our drafts and tutoring us on structuring questions and interpreting responses. Sally Roesch Wagner, Ph.D., executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center for Social Justice Dialog and one of the first women in the United States to receive a doctorate in womens studies, reviewed our chapter on the historical impact of women in museums.
Lending support along the way were Paula J. Birnbaum, Donna Ann Harris, Martha Morris, Pamela Pettengell, and Marsha Semmel.
Our surveys, of which there were ultimately four, yielded more than 550 responses. We conducted two focus groups, one in Connecticut devised by Liz Shapiro of the Connecticut League of History Organizations, and a second at the American Alliance of Museums 2015 annual meeting. In between, we conducted one-on-one interviews with 35 individuals. These interviews generally ran 45 to 60 minutes each and several included follow-up e-mail exchanges.
Our interviewees deserve a big thank you for their generosity of time and insights: Anonymous, Gail Becker, Carol Bossert, Rhiannon Cizon, LaNesha DeBardelaben, Betsy Deiterman, John Dichtl, Megan Dunn, Christine A. Engel, Jodie Engle, Ilene J. Frank, Diane Frankel, Barbara Franco, Kimberli Gant, Alyssa Greenberg, Shakia Gullette, Elaine Heumann Gurian, Mary Kate Keappler, Sarah M. Lerch, Laura Lott, Wyona Lynch-McWhite, Margaret Middleton, Monica O. Montgomery, Nina Pelaez, Jessica Phillips, Adrianne Russell, Kathy Dwyer Southern, Paulina Smutko, Susan Fisher Sterling, Kendall Taylor, Geri Thomas, and Cristin Waterbury.
Contributors of research and other information upon which we heavily relied are Carolynne Harris and N. Elizabeth Schlatter, who shared the research and transcript for their 2004 AAM session, Have You Seen My Glass Ceiling? Women Leaders in Museums Today; Cheryl Oestreicher, Ph.D., Head of Special Collections and Archives at Boise State University, who shared copies of Ms. Archivist; Laura Lott and Cecelia A. Walls of the American Alliance of Museums, who located articles and other materials in the AAM archives; Jessica Ferey of Equalarty; Marieke Van Damme of
