I have worked side-by-side with women nearly my entire working life and that includes a small farm as well as an S&H Green Stamp store.  The vast majority of library employees, both degreed and non-degreed,  are women.  This also holds true for social workers, child care workers, and those involved in education and training.  As a librarian, my career and the libraries I’ve worked in rise or fall with how women are viewed as part of the labor force, as administrators, as professionals, and whether they’re part of the good old boys network.

Women make up just under 50% of the American workforce.  So, why is it that the economic stimulus plans being discussed zero in exclusively on male workers?  Why has there been little discussion of the traditionally female-dominated professions and the institutions they work for – day care centers, elementary schools, libraries, social service agencies?

Linda R. Hirshman wonders the same thing in her New York Times op-ed “Where Are the New Jobs for Women?”  Hirshman is the author of Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World, a former lawyer who represented women and labor unions, and a PhD in philosophy who taught philosophy and women’s studies at Brandeis.  She uses the word “libraries” and “library” three times in her essay.  Three!  I can’t ever remember that happening outside of Library Journal or American Libraries.

Although I actually heard president-elect Obama talk about branch libraries closing and there have been warm and snuggly TV human interest stories about the increase in use of public libraries, I don’t yet see libraries gaining any traction on the slippery road to a  stimulus package.

To its credit, the American Library Association is asking Congress for $100 million in funding to help working families gain access to the  Internet and assistance with resumes and job searches, financial literacy, small business development, and how to find housing and social services.  I assume that this funding will provide new and additional materials for library collections and, possibly, funds to keep open libraries facing budget cuts.

Here in Maine, library directors know that there is a desperate need for funds to renovate and expand public library buildings.  The New Century grant program, funded by a statewide bond, was able to award about $500,000 in building projects this year with a maximum grant of $50,000.  Unfortunately, that’s a drop in the construction bucket of actual needs.  Why can’t public libraries be included in the infrastructure needs of local communities in any federal stimulus package?  It would be a gift that keeps on giving for decades if not centuries.  Libraries and schools are the most permanent public institutions in most towns and cities in the U.S.

Women workers of the U.S unite!  Le jour de la bataile est arrive, mesdames!  And every one of those men who make up 15% of the librarians in this country better be with you.