Day Camp Leadership: Women's Experiences with Gender Bias, Inequity, and Double Binds

Abstract

Background: Despite representing half of approximately 1.5 million camp counsellors in the United States, women in outdoor experiential education (OEE) continually face barriers that constrain them to lead according to restrictive gendered expectations. While scholars have studied this issue across a variety of OEE contexts, summer day camps are largely absent from empirical dialogue about gender and leadership. Purpose: Presently, we explore the impact of gender stereotypes on women's experiences as leaders inside one summer day camp. Methodology/Approach: We employ a qualitative, single-case study to interview five camp professionals about their experiences with gender and leadership. Findings/Conclusions: We find the construction of leadership within the camp rewarded men's agentic behaviors and punished women who led similarly. In addition, men who showed communally-oriented leadership traits were recognized as exceptional leaders, while women lost promotions and were reprimanded for the same behaviors. This gendered construction of leadership manifested as women having inequitable access to leadership development pipelines compared to men, especially related to representation, informal mentoring, and promotion. Implications: Considering these biased constructions and their impact on women leaders, we present opportunities for organizational and systemic change within day camps.