Balance for Better in the Book Industry

Happy International Women's Day! This year's theme is 'balance for better' - so we decided to take a look at gender balance within the book industry. Here's a few of the things we've learned.

Win Win by Joanne Lipman

Within the pages of this rallying cry to close the gender pay gap, author Joanne Lipman reveals some staggering stats about gender imbalance in the workplace. Did you know that over the course of a forty-year career, women will spend around 10,800 hours more than men making themselves look presentable? That’s over a year!

Fed Up by Gemma Hartley

Even with female workforce participation at a record high, author Gemma Hartley notes that “Women are still spending double the time men do on both domestic labour and caring for children.” Ever heard someone tell you that you have the same number of hours in the day as Beyoncé? We recommend asking them if Beyoncé has to do almost all the housework and childcare as well as slaying it as queen of the universe.

Worthwhile reading

Analysis of more than two million titles shows that on average, books by women are priced 45% lower than books by men.  And even when you account for the fact that genres traditionally written by women are priced lower than those traditionally written by men, prices for authors with identifiably female names are still 9% lower than for their male colleagues.

The Golden Ratio of Sexism

The golden ratio applies to children’s literature, as well: for every smart/brave/adventurous fictional heroine, the author must supply 1.618 boys. We love all the strong heroines we come across in children's literature, but it's worth thinking about their purpose in the story. Are they just there to support a male lead? And do they have just as much freedom to be vulnerable as strong? 

Bookwomen are doin' it for themselves

Rare book dealers and collectors are still routinely referred to as ‘bookmen’ – AN Devers is a bookwoman who advocates for the legacy of women and their writing. Her business, The Second Shelf, is part bookshop, part collection project, and 100% amazing titles by female authors. 

Balance for Better

This is the theme of this years' International Women's Day.

"How can you help forge a more gender-balanced world? Celebrate women's achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality."

We've picked these books to help you celebrate the very best of our female authors and stories.