Gender imbalance

[eagle37]

Hi,

So the BFS shortlist has been out less than six hours and already the blogs are appearing that there isn't enough female representation on the list. There was also a winge that there was too much horror - what can we say

I would love to do a poll (anonymous) across a wide group of aspiring writers to see what the balance is down at the grass roots. Are there more aspiring male writers than female? Or tother way about?

Ed: is the poll facility on this forum anonymous?

[LashSlash]

i know BS when i see it .... but what is BFS?

[marc_chagall]

If the shortlist was compiled by men, it will have overwhelmingly male writers. If it was complied by women, it will be 50/50. Therefore if it was compiled by a combination of men and women, it will have more male the female writers.

Even though more women than men are writers, the fact remains that men generally prefer to read 'male' writing (and that's nothing to do with whether they know the gender of the person who has written the piece) and women happily read writing by anyone.

Women buy far more books than men do, but men tend to be at the top of the tree when it comes to picking the books to publish, which is why it always looks as if there are more male than female writers.

[LashSlash]

If the shortlist was compiled by men, it will have overwhelmingly male writers. If it was complied by women, it will be 50/50. Therefore if it was compiled by a combination of men and women, it will have more male the female writers.

Even though more women than men are writers, the fact remains that men generally prefer to read 'male' writing (and that's nothing to do with whether they know the gender of the person who has written the piece) and women happily read writing by anyone.

Women buy far more books than men do, but men tend to be at the top of the tree when it comes to picking the books to publish, which is why it always looks as if there are more male than female writers.

.... still unable to define where i stand sexualy - i find all this rather confusing..... specialy this:- If it was complied by women, it will be 50/50..... wouldnt women select by merit only; why 50-50?.... if they dont compile by merit, i dont think i would choose to be one [women]

how would a trans-gender lesbian compile this BFS list --[whatever this list is]-- ?

[marc_chagall]

Red herrings, Daniel, red herrings.

Of course everyone, male and female, picks on merit. The point is, statistically speaking women see merit in writing by people of either gender, whereas men tend to see more merit in men's writing.

Your hypothetical transgender lesbian is female. You're muddling gender and sexuality.

[LashSlash]

whereas men tend to see more merit in men's writing..... are you a suffragette? what are the perks?

[marc_chagall]

You get to wear a nice hat.

[Pharosian]

Yes. In Daniel's case, a tall, pointy one. 

[JonP]

Ouch *ducks*

Seriously, it is an interesting issue. My publisher (who is also Rob's, incidentally) was complaining recently that 75%-80% of his submissions come from men, although a majority feature strong female leads. Work that one out.

Personally, my reading tends to split around 50-50 between male and female writers. But I guess I'm not typical.

[Ed]

Ed: is the poll facility on this forum anonymous?

Yes -- only I can see who has voted for what.

BTW, the reason for the difference in numbers between male authors and female has been discussed before -- I seem to remember the result being that there are simply fewer female writers in the sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres than there are male.

[LashSlash]

Ed: is the poll facility on this forum anonymous?

Yes -- only I can see who has voted for what.

BTW, the reason for the difference in numbers between male authors and female has been discussed before -- I seem to remember the result being that there are simply fewer female writers in the sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres than there are male.

thank you for this, ed


.... sit on my tall,  pointy hat.......

[desertwomble]

Yes. In Daniel's case, a tall, pointy one.  

..... because he's a wizard with his words!!!!!!

DW

[eagle37]

Ed
Thanks for pointing out it something that's already been done, and the results.

Tend to agree with what's been said, though. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts.

(And in case nobody else mentioned it, a BFS is the British Fantasy Society)

Regards

Rob