Cover More books were published by women than men in 2020, according to an American study (Photo: Getty Images)
More books were published by women than men in 2020, according to an American study (Photo: Getty Images)
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While most of the books published in 2021 were by female writers, the representation for the LGBTQ+ community and people of colour is still lagging behind within the industry
The study in question was conducted by American economist Joel Waldfogel for US-based research organisation National Bureau of Economic Research. He compared the proportions of books published by men and women since the 1970s. At that time, women writers published three times fewer books than their male counterparts.
But this trend has been largely reversed over the past five decades. By 2020, more books were published by women than men. A major historical first, according to Waldfogel. “While women’s participation in IP creation continues, generally, to lag [behind] men’s, the past half century has brought a revolution in gender-inclusive book creation,” he wrote in his article.
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The growing presence of works by women in the book world isn’t due to a decrease in the number of published male authors, but rather to a greater interest in books written by women. Women’s books even sold more copies on average than those written by men in 2021. Dana Weinberg and Adam Kapelner, two researchers from New York’s Queens College, had previously noted this interest in stories with new voices, particularly when they are female.
But this interest often comes from female readers. British journalist Mary Ann Sieghart explains in her book The Authority Gap (Doubleday, 2021) that men are still reluctant to pick up works written by women. She found that while women are willing to read books written by an author of the opposite sex, men are less willing to do so.
Of the ten best-selling female authors (including Jane Austen, Danielle Steel and Jojo Moyes), only 19 per cent of their readership is male, compared to 81 per cent female. This asymmetry is much less pronounced for their male counterparts, with 55 per cent male readers and 45 per cent female for the ten best-selling male authors.
Breaking the glass ceiling in the book world
While in the US an overwhelming majority of published titles are written by white authors, publishing houses are finally making an effort to increasingly bring more racial and gender diversity to their portfolios in the form of new acquisitions or new contracts with contributors who are BIPOC or identify as other than cis men or women.
While women are now well represented among top editorial positions in publishing houses, more needs to be done to increasingly diversify these ranks for the industry to change and give new talent a chance, says an October 2022 report by PEN America, an organisation promoting international literary fellowship.
Initiatives to promote a more diverse literature and break the glass ceiling of publishing are increasing, if slowly. And such changes contribute to readers’ well-being, according to Waldfogel. “Inclusive innovation in books is a ‘win-win’: not only is the female authorship influx welfare-improving for women (as authors and readers) but also for a wide range of consumers, including those reliant on traditionally male genres”, he says in his study.
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