<
https://theconversation.com/something-remarkable-has-happened-to-australias-book-pages-gender-equality-has-become-the-norm-177362>
"For the first time in the nine-year history of the Stella Count, and perhaps
in the entire history of Australian book reviewing, gender equality has become
the norm in Australia’s books pages. Our new research for the Count reveals 55%
of books reviewed in Australian publications in 2020 were by women.
The Stella Count surveys 12 Australian publications – including national,
metropolitan, and regional newspapers, journals and magazines – collecting data
on the gender of authors and reviewers, length of review and genre of books
reviewed.
In 2012 when the Count began, ten of the 13 publications then surveyed reviewed
more books written by men. In 2020, only three of the 12 publications currently
surveyed review more books by male rather than female authors. All bar one of
these publications improved the gender balance of books reviewed significantly
over this period.
Some publications have dramatically transformed their pages to better represent
women authors between 2011 and 2020.
The Age has increased its representation
of books written by women from 38% to 55%;
The Monthly, from 26% to 56%; and
Brisbane’s
Courier-Mail, from 43% to 54%.
The Saturday Paper entered the Count in 2014 with 37% of books reviewed
written by women; it hit 61% women authors reviewed in 2020. Likewise, the
Sydney Review of Books has increased its percentage from 36% in 2015 to 70%
in 2020.
These significant gains do not mean gender bias has been eliminated from the
Australian book reviewing field. Some publications continue to find the gender
parity line a hard one to cross – and in general, books written by men still
attract longer reviews."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
