The representation of women: a small rant.

[hawkwing_lb]

Over at Tor.com, they've recently released the list for the eighth month of Barnes&Noble "Booksellers' Picks." (The post in question is here, btw.)

As I said in a comment over there, the recent publication of the 2011 SF Count over at Strange Horizons inspired me to do a little maths. Namely, the proportion of male to female authors or editors featured in the Barnes and Noble Booksellers' Picks.

Here are the numbers from the eight months since September (human error may have crept in):

Total: M=68, F=24, NA=1

So, for every one (1) featured book by women, there are approximately two point eight (2.8) featured books by men.

Ahem.

Women authors represent a) more than one quarter of books published and b) definitely more than one quarter of the reading public.

A roughly 3: M:F ratio is rather disproportionate, don't you think? Definitely not a "Well done, B&N! Good show!"

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Numbers by month:

Apr: M=7.5, F=3.5, NA=1

Mar: M=8, F=5

Feb: M=8.5, F=5.5

Jan: M=14 F=1

Dec: M=6, F=3

Nov: M=9, F=3

Oct: M=5, F=3

Sept: M=10, F=0

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So I'm a little pissed, all things considered. Tor.com is pretty good, on the numbers, at representing Stuff Women Write - 41.6% of their reviews, according to the SF Count. Which makes the numbers for their collaboration with B&N all the more disappointing.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Sadly, I am unsurprised. That's slightly higher than the number at which people start thinking women are 'dominating' (about 25%)

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

I too am unsurprised. But I am still disappointed.

[owlfish]

I stopped reading the list partway through because I was conscious of how very male-dominated it was. It's (good?) to know exactly how much so. If disappointing.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Good is certainly one word.