We touched on book reviews and gender at our last book club meeting so I wanted to share some links and articles that were relevant and mentioned.
This article by a book critic ("Men Reviewing Men"), about how he is almost always reviewing books by men and what we ought to do about it:
"It’s absurd that it took so long for an editor to think that I might be interested in writing on a female novelist; it’s just as absurd that it took me so long to notice it. To repurpose C. E. Morgan, this is an anti-critical stance to take towards criticism. More boys need to read female authors; more male critics need to write on female authors; more female critics need to be asked to write, period. When it comes to literary criticism, thinking beyond our gender blinders requires us first acknowledging their existence."
And the 2017 VIDA Count is up. VIDA is a non-profit feminist organization committed to creating transparency around the lack of gender parity in the literary landscape and to amplifying historically-marginalized voices, including people of color; writers with disabilities; and queer, trans and gender nonconforming individuals. Their annual Count highlights gender imbalances in publishing by tallying genre, book reviewers, books reviewed, and journalistic bylines to offer an accurate assessment of the publishing world.
For the main VIDA Count, they looked at 15 major print publications over the course of 2017, analyzing how many women and gender minorities are represented. Here are some key takeaways:
Of the 15 publications in the main VIDA Count, only 2 published 50% or more women writers
Unfortunately, the undeniable majority, 8 out of 15 publications, failed to publish enough women writers to make up even 40% of their publication’s run in 2017
All magazines surveyed had fewer than 50% writers of color represented who are also women or nonbinary
Only 17 journals published at least one writer who had not received a Bachelor’s Degree
There's much, much more information at their site so check it out for yourself!