Museum leadership: a possible shift in gender representation.

Gender bias is a broad social issue, combining historical and current stereotypes that affect both the for-profit and non-profit workforce. Furthermore, phenomena such as the glass ceiling, the wage gap, and feminization develop the perception of gender bias in society, including that part involving the museum community. To determine the extent that gender bias exists in museum leadership positions, data of current museum leaders were obtained from 9,475 museums by using the directory of the American Association of Museums. Data were statistically analyzed according to geographical region, museum size and museum type. From this research it is determined that there are a small number of cases of gender bias for both men and women in museum leadership. Trends from the data, correlated with a historical context, indicate the possibility of an increasing feminization of the profession. Recommendations are given to address these issues.