Women Writers Still Effed

I’ve written about gender inequity in the literary and journalistic industry a few times over at LitDrift.

I’ve said that women are grossly underrepresented on the mastheads of major literary magazines and journalistic outlets and win contests and recognition way less than men. This is no surprise but it’s helpful to point out and remind people so that those in positions of power can make more thoughtful decisions about hiring and recruitment.

Two updates on this issue:

1. Finally, some editors have responded to the facts about the lack of women in their publications. I think the editor of The New Republic, Jonathan Chait, had some interesting thoughts about why women may be less involved in opinion journalism.
2. A friend of mine and a talented artist/cartoonist Susie Cagle reminds us that this disparity exists in the cartooning world. Read her thoughtful post here.

Clearly this is not an isolated issue, and also affects people of color. I just like to be the voice of persistent outrage. So I’ll just keep on ranting over here.

Side note: in my MFA program (creative nonfiction), the vast majority of students are women (upwards of 80%). I’m very curious to see if despite this, the people who go on to get jobs and book deals don’t reflect this…