It's a man's world

In an article in Today's New York Times titled "Often on Point But Rarely In Charge," dance critic Claudia la Rocco explores the reasons behind the fact that the vast majority of major ballet companies are run by men. This is something I've noticed before; after all, given the overwhelming majority of girls in ballet schools, why do the men float to the top?

The situation bears some resemblance to that of women in physics, vis. self-perpetuation. Men hold the authority positions because they had them in the past. As Emily Coates is quoted as saying, "You think: 'What is the 20-year-old soloist going to think? What will she be looking at?' She'll be seeing the men advance and the women retire, often into teaching positions. And there's another generation that will not know that it can aspire, even aspire, to rise into that." Hmm, sound familiar? (Well, ok, maybe not to you dance readers, but it sure as heck sounds familiar to me.)

There is, however, one tiny difference. Women are minorities in physics; men are minorities in ballet. You can run a lab without a woman, but you can't put on Swan Lake without a man. So young male dancers are given special attention, face less competition, have lighter workloads, etc. The result? "Such embedded pathways function like 'glass escalators,' speeding men's ascension in female-dominated professions," says sociology professor Christine L. Williams. And here's the rub: "'Consequently you have this bizarre thing, really the opposite of when women enter predominately male jobs' and face glass ceilings." In other words, in male-dominated professions, men rise to the top. In female-dominated professions, men ALSO rise to the top. Isn't that special.