Filed under: notes
Number Trouble for Poets details one of the stickier issues with poetry publication: women : men publication ratio. Click on View to enlarge the graphics and you’ll notice a couple of things:
- the average percent of poems by women in journals has increased over time (but not to a 1 : 1 ratio);
- one journal published just about no women even over a decades (Ahem. NYRB. For shame.);
- few journals published equal numbers of women and men; and
- most journals publish many many more men than women.
This raises a number of issues to discuss: Do the women: men ratios in published work simply reflect what is submitted (i.e., Do more men submit their work? Many people think this is so). Are there simply more male poets? I find this hard to believe as many of my poetry workshops at Squaw this summer were almost entirely female. Why don’t more women submit their work? (I could write an entire post on why I don’t) And if the gap is due simply to lack of female submissions, do editors have a responsibility to solicit work? (Some editors do, while some rely on slush.)
On a side note, I’m beginning to think in addition to journal and pen fetishes, I have a graph fetish.
I find it hard to believe there are significantly fewer women writing poetry than men. Maybe it’s the chef/cook thing - men get the recognition and prestige?
It really doesn’t make sense … considering that girls and women are supposedly far, far better at language skills. If that’s true, what’s going on?
Among other things, I suspect men submit more work more often than women do. Maybe there’s a difference in expectation of compensation.
Comment by h sofia 11.25.07 @ 3:28 pmIs there any compensation?
I know that I don’t submit more frequently because it seems futile, but I think if it seemed less futile, I could be convinced to send more work out.
The chef/cook comparison is interesting.
Comment by Ms. Theologian 11.25.07 @ 3:36 pmI used this statistic during an anti racism/anti oppression “game show” at GA:
According to a 1997 study published in Nature magazine, how much more accomplished did a female scientist have to be – as compared to a male scientist - to receive a grant?
Choices: A) 25% B) 75% C) 200%
Answer: C – 200%. The study looked at the number of publications in scientific journals, how many times the person was a lead author on published articles, and how many times the article was cited.
I think the problem is sexism. I’m frequently having to correct the LH when he refers to scientists as men and “he”s.
Viva la revolucion!
Comment by h sofia 11.28.07 @ 4:32 pmPart of the problem seems to be that many people think we are post-feminism and there isn’t any sexism (or racism for that matter). In fact, there was a whole argument on a list serv I read about the data being “essentialist” as if that makes it invalid.
Comment by Ms. Theologian 11.28.07 @ 4:50 pmThat kind of thing makes me think, “People are insane.” To think we are “post feminism.” WTF?
Comment by h sofia 11.29.07 @ 12:21 pmLeave a comment
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