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The Women Archivists Roundtable (WAR) monitors the status of women archivists and promotes the participation of women in the archives profession, specifically in areas of the Society of American Archivists.[1]
History
[edit]Although many women archivists helped shaped the SAA, the status of women in the archival profession didn't receive much attention until the 1970s.[2] In 1972, the SAA established the Committee on the Status of Women in the Archival Profession. The Committee sought to address under representation and identify the barriers and obstacles for advancement.[2] The overall membership population of women had grown since the SAA's inception, but few had risen to the positions of president, officer, or council member.
The Committee conducted two surveys, one of archivists and one of directors. Through these surveys, the Committee discovered that although many women had comparable education and experience, few of them had risen to administrative positions.[3]
At the same time that the Committee was created, the Women's Caucus was founded and began publishing The SAA Women's Caucus Newsletter.[4]
In 1998, the Committee evolved into the Women's Professional Archival Issues Roundtable. In 2000, this name was changed to the Women Archivists Roundtable.[5] In 2017, the name was changed once again to its current name, the Women Archivists Section (WArS), like the rest of the SAA groups.[6]
Surveys
[edit]In 2000 and 2001, the WAR Steering Committee created a survey to analyze the relationship between women archivists and the archival profession. The survey was completed and published in August 2001 and included 227 women archivists.[7] The survey found that most of the members (77.1%) came from East of the Rocky Mountains and 50.2% represented the academic sector as professional staff (69.6%) or archivist (53.2%).[7] Most of them held a Bachelor's Degree (97.2%) as well as a Master's (63.6%) and/or a Master's in Library Science (54.3%).[7] 73% were members of the SAA while only 10% were members of WAR.[7] Supervisors were 54.4% women and only 24.1% stated that they put in no overtime. And finally, "98.7% of respondents felt that unearthing women's history continues to be important, yet only 77.1% make a concerted effort to do so and only 61.9% of respondents actually work with materials related specifically to women."[7]
More recent surveys have indicated the rise of women in archival professions, or even a "feminization" of the profession.[8] Yet Wikipedia does not show this. In 2016, research discovered that only 50 articles exist on Wikipedia for female archivists, compared to 260 for male archivists.[6] And for specifically American archivists, only 15 existed for women compared to 93 for men.[6] So in 2016, WArS hosted a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon in Atlanta, and remotely, to encourage more women editors and more articles on women archivists.
In a survey conducted in 2017, researchers found that of the 2,170 respondents, 1,717 were members of the SAA, which was at a membership of over 6,000 in 2017. [9]Therefore, this survey reflected about one quarter of the SAA membership in 2017.[9] Of the total respondents, 87.7% were white and 84.3% were female.[9] Only 3.1% responded stating they were African American, while 3.6% answered they were Latinx American and 3.2% said they were bi- or multi-racial.[9] Over 92% stated that the highest education they'd received was a Master's degree.[9] Since 1956, which had a membership of 33% women, the percentage of women membership has grown to be over 82%.[9]
Today
[edit]The Roundtable is governed by two co-chairs who must be members of the SAA, and they are elected on staggered two-year terms. On their website, WAR states their mission is to "ensure that the Society of American Archivists (SAA) conscientiously deals with issues that affect the status of women within the profession and the Society."[10] Under their goals and objectives, they have aimed to:
- Monitor the status of women within the archival profession.
- Encourage the participation of women in all phases of SAA business and other activities as well as in the archival profession as a whole.
- Monitor gender balance on SAA programs.
- Nominate candidates for Fellow in SAA.
- Monitor the continuance of day care at the SAA Annual Meeting.
- Meet annually in conjunction with the SAA meeting.
- Conduct its business in accordance with Section IX. of the SAA Governance Manual.[10]
- ^ "Women Archivists Section | Society of American Archivists". www2.archivists.org. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ a b "About". Women Archivists Section. 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ Deutrich, Mabel E. “Women in Archives: A Summary Report of the Committee of the Status of Women in the Archival Profession.” The American Archivist 38 (1975): 43-46.
- ^ Pacifico, Michele F. “Founding Mothers: Women in the Society of American Archivist, 1936-1972.” The American Archivist 50 (1987): 389.
- ^ 2000 Women Archivists Roundtable Minutes, Denver, accessed October 17, 2013, http://www2.archivists.org/groups/women-archivists-roundtable/2000-women-archivists-roundtable-minutes-denver.
- ^ a b c "Founding WARriors: Women Archivists Section's Wikipedia Edit-a-thon". www.bluetoad.com. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
- ^ a b c d e "Survey Results: Women in the Archival Profession | Society of American Archivists". www2.archivists.org. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
- ^ Yakel, Elizabeth. “The Future of the Past: A Survey of Graduates of Master’s-Level Archival Education Programs in the United States.” The American Archivist 63 (2000): 302, 309-310.
- ^ a b c d e f Israel, Robin H. and Jodi Reeves Eyre (2017). "The 2017 WArS/SAA Salary Survey: Initial Results and Analysis" (PDF). The Society of American Archivists.
- ^ a b "Standing Rules | Society of American Archivists". www2.archivists.org. Retrieved 2019-10-30.