Gender Disparity in Publishing

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here's a good discussion of gender disparity in publishing. More books by men get published and reviewed, compared to women.

If you want to change that, you need to figure out why it's happening ...


Do reviewers ignore books by women out of prejudice? Then you need more open-minded reviewers. Do reviewers just not like women's books as much? Check the topics and quality. In both cases, more women reviewers might help.

Are there fewer books by women getting published? In most publishers, yes. Is that because of editorial prejudice? Change editors. You might also try stripping off the names while reading the manuscripts. Is it because of quality/quantity in the manuscripts? Hustle for more and better submissions from female authors. More women editors might help too.

Do fewer women write and submit things? Do they have lower quality than manuscripts by men? These may be symptoms of systematic oppression which undermines women's confidence, restricts their opportuniies for person growth, and limits the time they have to pursue activities such as writing. For fundamental problems like this, you need a widespread effort to improve women's confidence and opportunities.

In today's changing publication field, however, there is a lot more that individuals can do. Want more stuff by women (or any other disadvantaged group) to exist and get attention? Review it yourself. Sponsor or promote crowdfunding projects. Encourage writers. Connect with other folks who share your interests so you can build up a pool of titles. Watch for small presses that specialize in your area of interest.

Comments

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

There is some variation across genres. Frex, romance is almost totally dominated by women. But the ones that get more respect and money go to men. Raising children is thought of as women's work, so I'm not surprised to hear of more women than men in youth lit.