Building Strategic Vision For Invisible LibrarianA Case Study of Female Librarians

By: Qaisra Riaz Jaswal,

Librarian, Lahore School of Economics, Lahore

Javed Anjum Sheikh,

Middlesex University, UK

Purpose of the StudyTo test the following Hypotheses:

Culturally male off springs tend to get preferential treatment in terms of educational support as compared to females.

This causes women to depend on males in family hierarchy and invisibility in their workplace.

To explore the current status of women librarian in Pakistan and to investigate if they are invisible.

Methodology

A questionnaire based cross sectional survey was conducted via http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey

50+ females were approached by telephone and 60+ via email.

37 females were respondents. Survey was directed at finding women

invisibility in LIS profession.

Education of Women Librarians

The participants had good educational background and belonged to all fields of librarianships

76% females were MLIS

12.8% B. LIS 8.57% ware Mphil and

PhD. 2.86 % C. LIS

Reasons for leaving previous jobs

74 % Female Librarians were Dissatisfied with their previous jobs due to following reasons:

– Rude management 8.82%

– Non-cooperative staff 8.82%

– Gender Harassment 9.30%

– Discrimination17.65%

– Unnecessary Bureaucracy/Formalities 11.76%

– Lack of recognition 17.65%

Reasons for leaving previous jobs

8.82%

8.82%

9.30%

17.65%

11.76%

17.65%

17%

9% Rude management

Non-cooperative staff

Harassment

Discrimination

Unnecessarybureacarcy/formalities

Lack of recognition

Better opportunity

Personal

Level of Satisfaction with the Workplace Harassment Bill

1=low…5=high

– 1 9.09%– 2 9.09%– 3 33.33%– 4 27.27%– 5 21.21%

Harassment Bill Reaction

9.09%

9.09%

33.33%27.27%

21.21%

1

2

3

4

5

Types of Workplace Harassment

20.80% Rude management 5.20% Non-cooperative staff 2.51% Gender Harassment 2.51% Discrimination 8.30% Unnecessary bureaucracy/formalities 8.30% Lack of recognition 22% Other Reasons

Types of Workplace Harassment

Lower Pay Scales

40 % percent librarians said they were working with low pay scale as compared to male librarian with same degree/training - because of lack of recognition of their work,

25.71% librarians were satisfied but it is quite evident that this percentage was very low.

Only 8.57 percent reported that they were very satisfied with their job

Behavior of Females in Case of Harassment

Quit job immediately 4.88%

Find a job and then quit 2.20%

Complain to higher authority56.10%

Don’t Care Attitude 9.76%

Involve male relatives 2.44%

Other reasons 14.63%

Behavior of Females in case of harassment

Invisibility of Women Librarians

The following comments give causes of invisibility of women librarians in Pakistan:

Females reported that they need extra ordinary support from their family side to have a career.

Female librarians were working under lots of pressure including workplace harassment.

Most of the females have compromised with this unfair situation of harassment and worked quietly because as a result of resistance the males would defame her. This is very common in our society to blackmail a female with this tactics.

This stressful situation affects their working skills and mental fitness but they have to continue their job due to financial needs 

Problems Identified-1 Among librarians community in Pakistan the ratio of male

librarians at key posts is unfairly higher than females. If a female have the potential and ability to step forward

they face discrimination Because the society is male oriented so male librarians in

subordinate positions don’t like to work under the supervision of female librarians

The male co-worker always try to pressurise females to work under their instructions and they take credit for the work from the authorities who are mostly males.

Problems Identified-2 Female librarians are also facing harassment

in public libraries from their male library users Female librarians find it difficult to create

good working relationships at workplace – as they have to maintain a distance from males for the fear of being misunderstood

Senior Librarians consider trained junior staff as threat to their own position

Problems Identified-3

Private sector has lesser gender discrimination because proper action is taken on bad behaviour of men with female workers.

Most of the libraries are working in the government institutions where long bureaucracy procedures have many loopholes for men and quick action is not possible.

Eighty percent librarians feel happier to work under the female supervisors.

Recommendations-1 One should consider the entity of every one.

Authorities should hold meetings to guide all management and administration about equality of rights at work place.

Higher Authorities should enquire about the junior staff’s progress reports; so that junior staff could avail the opportunities to upgrade themselves and immediate boss never try to degrade his junior staff to others.

Administration or higher authority should take immediate action against the person who commits humiliating behavior with his female co worker.

Recommendations-2 During the education in library sciences, both male and

female students should be given tutorials and lectures so that they support, tolerate and respect each other in work environment which will eventually lead to the healthy and supporting work place for women workers.

We also recommend that the women rights bill announced by the government is immediately implemented and the government should make sure that victims could easily approach the concerned authorities for their protection.

Females should try to upgrade themselves. They should be courageous to report the harassment incidents against them.

Recommendations-3 Pakistan Library Association (PLA) should also

take an initiative to maintain the dignity of female librarians at the workplace. This would lead to a pressure-free society for females.

Government of Pakistan should focus more on the public libraries where female librarians have to deal with people from different cultures. The support from the Government could provide female librarians a tension free work environment with requisite security to enable them to work efficiently

Conclusion -1Liberty and rights are two different things, Man is superior in family system but at work place he should work with other females on equal basis.

Respect and good work relationship is important at both ends. Pakistani political leaders mostly belong to ‘wadera’ and conservative families and just talk about women rights to get their votes; otherwise they are against the empowerment of females. It is therefore necessary to have laws favoring female workers

Conclusion -2Working women find it difficult to carry out their home and job because they are under pressure of job duties and household responsibilities. Most of the males don’t contribute in household work like looking after kids, cooking etc. Females are contributing financially with them there is a need to develop the habits to support females in household work form their spouses.

  We feel that a need exists for further studies on how to improve the working conditions and home situation for working women in our society.

  

 

Conclusion -3

We hope that the result of this study will throw light to build strategic vision for women librarians. The important thing is that Pakistani women librarians must be aware of their rights and be visible in this profession because according to 97.14% librarians, this profession is very suitable for females.

We also expect that men and women work together for the profession betterment and also full support should be given from males to female co-workers as the total population of Pakistan is growing higher and higher. Now it is very important to strengthen females by encouraging them to work side by side the male community for the vision of 21st Century.

“No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you; we are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live.”

Quied-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Thank You