Co authored with Krista McCracken
In 2017, archaeologist Steph Halmhofer (@bones_canada) issued a call for submission for the first “Celebration of Women and Non-Binary Archaeologists.” The call was a response to the lack of women and non-binary representation in year-end archaeology roundups, as well as problems with representation in the media and public discourse. We have noticed many of the same problems in the field of History.
Inspired by Halmhofer, and with her permission, we issued an invitation in December 2018 to all women and non-binary folk who consider themselves to be historians to celebrate their personal and professional accomplishments from 2018.
Our goal in establishing this initiative was to empower women and non-binary folks to celebrate their accomplishments in a safe space. However, before we get to our awesome list, we wanted to take a moment to discuss some of the thinking behind this kind of celebration, why talking about accomplishments remains so fraught for women and non-binary folks in and out of academia, and the importance of using inclusive language.
We would like to take a moment to acknowledge that while we are focusing on the experiences of women and non-binary historians in this blog post, many of the issues that are discussed below are also faced by historians of colour and historians with disabilities, as well as first-generation academics. While we acknowledge that gender, race, class, ability, and sexual orientations are intersecting identities that cannot be fully separated, we also acknowledge that each also has their own dynamics. While we do not have the space to discuss them in detail here, we feel that it is important that we acknowledge this reality and invite others who may be better qualified to add to the discussion.
Celebrations, Boast Posts, and Shine Theory
One of the questions that this type of blog post begs is: why do we need a special celebration for women and non-binary historians? There are many reasons, but we’re going to focus on two specifically: gender norms and sexism in academia.
A number of studies have shown that individuals who identify as women* often have difficulty taking credit for their accomplishments. There are a variety of reasons why this is the case, from gender norms that associate femininity with modesty, to imposter syndrome, to fragile/toxic masculinity, and more. Many of us are also reluctant to celebrate our accomplishments for fear of making other people feel bad, encouraging competition, or even threatening our friendships. These problems are not unique to academia, but the academy has its own challenges with respect to sexism and representation.
For instance, it has now been two and a half years since the publication of Elise Chenier, Lori Chambers, and Anne Frances Toews’s groundbreaking study demonstrating incontrovertible evidence of gender bias in the field of Canadian history, and yet there has been no definitive action taken. A recent study has shown that while the number of white women-identified professors has increased, they still only make up 26% of tenured professors ( and the numbers for racialized and Indigenous women are far worse). CAUT’s new report on the working conditions of sessional lecturers also revealed that women are disproportionately represented at this level, with 56% of respondents identifying at women (as opposed to 40% of total full-time faculty members). This has also translated into discrepancies in income and the amount of work required. Finally, the recent #MeTooPhd movement has demonstrate just how widespread experiences of academic sexism and sexual harassment are in both Canada and the United States. (It is important to note here that Canadian academia has remained curiously silent on this.)
There is considerably less research on career success of gender non-conforming academics. However, this study from the University of Colorado does provide a fairly comprehensive look at the experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming faculty at colleges and universities in the state, and shows similar and worrying trends. We hope to see studies like this in the future.
The goal of our initiative is to contribute to the fight against sexism in academia. We take our cue from the Hook and Eye blog series, “Boasts Posts” and Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow’s “Shine Theory.” In 2010, the Hook and Eye blog initiated a new series they titled “Boast Posts.” The blog itself is dedicated to sharing the experiences of women working in Canadian academia. In this series, contributors were invited to nominate and celebrate their own accomplishments, even anonymously if desired. The goal behind this was to encourage contributors to take credit for their “awesomeness.”
Along similar lines, Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow’s “Shine Theory” is short for the principle of “I don’t shine if you don’t shine.” Simple in premise, this principle encourages women to celebrate each other as a way of uplifting us all, by focusing on collaboration rather than competition. As they explain, “We practice Shine Theory because true confidence is infectious. Because powerful women make the greatest friends. Because people know you by the company you keep. Because we want the strongest, happiest, smartest women in our corner—and we want to support each other in pursuing success and happiness on our own terms.”
Finally, this initiative also arises from the “snaps” thread in the Academic Sharing Circle. The Academic Sharing Circle (or ASC) was co-founded by Jessica DeWitt and Andrea Eidinger following the publication of Andrea’s blog post on gender bias, sessional instructors, and teaching evaluations. Our goal in creating this secret Facebook group was to provide a safe space for women and non-binary academics and those in alt-ac/post-ac positions, to come together, share our experiences, and help one another. Shortly thereafter, Andrea suggested the creation of an official “snaps” thread, inspired by the “snap cup” from Legally Blonde 2 (no comments about Andrea’s taste in movies please…). In the movie, each member of the group is invited to write something positive about another person on a slip of paper. The papers are then placed in a cup, and each one is read aloud by the “cup mistress,” and the group celebrates each accomplishment by saying “snaps to So-and-So!” We have modified the procedure, since cups do not work on the internet, where we have an official “snaps thread.” Individuals are invited to celebrate their accomplishments or call out the accomplishments of other members of the group. And then we all celebrate that accomplishment. In the movie, the snap cup is intended to overcome group conflict, but in our case, the goal was to both celebrate our accomplishments and encourage us to take ownership of them.
We strongly believe that the empowerment of women and non-binary academics must come from us, and that it is only when we work together that we can fight systematic oppression and create a better world for us all.
But we would not suggest that this is a simple or easy process. Far from it.
Problematizing the Idea of Accomplishment
Even the idea of accomplishments is fraught territory for many women and non-binary academics. Many of us feel underwhelmed, overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, or numb even after reaching major milestones, like dissertation submissions, defense, or article publications. In a world that is as competitive as academia, particularly during this era of crisis, we rarely get to take a moment to feel joy or even take stock, before moving on to the next project. We tell ourselves, “once I reach the next milestone (finish my dissertation/publish my book/get a tenure-track position/get tenure), I will finally be able to celebrate.” But this day never seems to arrive.
What’s more, while some of us are able to celebrate certain accomplishments (like publications or getting a job), this is rarely the case for “smaller” accomplishments, (finishing a course, submitting a job application or a grant, editing a draft, or even sometimes just getting through a really difficult class) or personal accomplishments (learning a new skill, paying off a loan, buying a house). The result is, too often, that this work is often rendered invisible.
This reluctance or fear of celebrating our accomplishments is often a coping mechanism, as we attempt to shield ourselves from harm. This was brought to the forefront last June with Fern Riddell’s experience protesting the Globe and Mail’s decision to stop using the honorific “Dr.” for academic degrees:
My title is Dr Fern Riddell, not Ms or Miss Riddell. I have it because I am an expert, and my life and career consist of being that expert in as many different ways as possible. I worked hard to earned my authority, and I will not give it up to anyone.
— Dr Fern Riddell (@FernRiddell) June 13, 2018
In response to the above tweet, a number of commenters criticised her for being “arrogant“ and “attention-seeking,” among other things. The result of this exchange was the #ImmodestWomen campaign, which called on women academics to add their academic titles or credentials to their Twitter profiles.
A similar initiative, Women Also Know History, was even profiled on Active History. Women Also Know History, founded by Emily Prifogle, Karin Wulf, and Keisha Blain, was designed to highlight the expertise of women historians and create a database of scholars for journalists to consult. As of September 2018, the database boasted around 3,000 entries. While this project is primarily focused on American historians, they do also occasionally profile the work of Canadian historians.
However, it is important to also point out some of the problems and limitations around the idea of accomplishments. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s often quoted “Well-behaved women seldom make history,” is an illustrative example here. While many people take this quote to mean that women should strive to be “not well-behaved” in order to “make history,” Ulrich’s original intent was to highly how the historical experiences of “ordinary” women are largely ignored because they were not “exceptional.” However, their lives and experiences are no less valuable.
An emphasis on accomplishment can serve to undermine the importance of the everyday struggles that so many women and non-binary academics experience. On a related note, we also would point out that the emphasis on “accomplishments” often serves to normalize masculine experiences and norms, particularly with respect to the emphasis on specific and concrete achievements, such the publication of books and articles, as opposed to the emotional labour that is performed by women and non-binary academics on a daily basis, just to give you one example. While we have tried to avoid these pitfalls – we encouraged participants to submit anything they worked on in 2018, be it personal or professional – it is important to acknowledge the problems of “accomplishments” and the limitations of this kind of approach.
Creating Safe and Inclusive Spaces
While we are both supporters of #ImmodestWomen and Women Also Know History, they are not without their own issues. In particular, we worry that the emphasis on academic titles/credentials serves to entrench a particular form of historical authority as based in academia. While this does not appear to be intentional in any respect, it still perpetuates the idea that academic historians are somehow more authoritative, reliable, or authentic than other kinds of historians, including public historians (with or without academic credentials), Indigenous Elders, and Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.
Another major concern is the uncritical emphasis on the term “woman.” These projects/initiatives, and others like them, often fail to problematize this category or acknowledge the different experiences of cis- and trans-women. What’s more, the language that these projects use also exclude gender-non-conforming folks (non-binary, genderqueer, 2Spirit, etc). Andrea is herself guilty in this respect, in March 2018 she failed to include non-binary folks in a blog post celebrating women-identified historians in Canada. Academia can be an actively hostile place to trans and gender-non-conforming individuals, rife with policing of bodies, discrimination, harassment, and violence. The 2015, the U.S. Transgender Survey surveyed of over 27,000 trans individuals, and found that 24% of respondents who were out as or perceived as trans in college were verbally, physically, or sexually harassed while in school.
Eric Anthony Grollman has noted, “It’s not easy for any of us – students, staff, faculty of administrators – to be authentic and visible in categories that are not reflected in the majority of in the institution’s policies, practices, and mission.” Gender-non-conforming folks exist within every level of academia, but they are often seen as an exception. On a personal level, Krista – who identifies as non-binary – has struggled to be fully out within an their institution and professional circles. This is partially because of a fear for violence and negative career implications. There are many structural and systemic barriers to being out within academia – unclear policies relating to name changes, campus housing segregated by gender, gendered change rooms in recreation facilities, access to all-gender bathrooms – and more. We need to do a better job to create inclusive and braver spaces within our academic circles and institutions.
2018 Accomplishments of Women and Non-Binary Historians
Without any further ado, here is our list! Congratulations to all!
A big thank you to Krista for writing this piece with me, and for creating such an awesome graphic! We are both so grateful for all of the individuals who submitted their achievements to this survey, and again to Stephanie Halmhofer for generously allowing us to steal adapt her fantastic initiative! I hope you enjoyed our first blog post of 2019. If you did, please consider sharing it on the social media platform of your choice. And don’t forget to check back on Sunday for an absolutely enormous roundup. Pray for me. See you then!
Krista McCracken (They/Them) is a settler scholar who lives and works on Robinson-Huron treaty territory, in the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe and Métis. Krista is an Archives Supervisor at the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre and an editor of Activehistory.ca.
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