The Stella Count: 2014 gender ratios in books pages revealed
Books by male authors received on average 58% of coverage in Australia’s major newspapers and literary journals compared to 42% for books by female authors, the 2014 Stella Count has revealed.
The Stella Prize, in conjunction with Books+Publishing and researchers from Deakin and Monash universities, compiled Australian statistics showing how many women and men were reviewed in Australia’s major newspapers, magazines and literary journals, and the gender of reviewers.
The 2014 charts show an increase in the coverage of books by male authors compared to 2013, when 55.4% of reviews were of books by male authors, and 44.6% of female authors. In 2014 the two publications with the largest bias towards male authors were again the Australian Financial Review, with 77% of its reviews favouring male authors (down from 85% in 2013), and the Weekend Australian, with 69% favouring male authors (up from 65% in 2013).
This year, the Stella Count also collected data on the size of reviews, the genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s books) most frequently reviewed, and the nationality of reviewed authors. The full set of charts can be viewed on the Stella Prize website here.
‘Overall the 2014 Stella Count reveals, once again, that books by men are reviewed more often in the mainstream media than books by women, and confirms a pattern identified last year that male reviewers are much more likely to review books written by male authors,’ said Stella Prize chair Aviva Tuffield. ‘This year we measured size of reviews, which demonstrates that books by men are also much more likely to receive longer and more in-depth reviews. Thus, it seems that books by men and women are often treated differently in terms of review coverage when several factors are taken into account—the gender of the reviewer, the size of review and the genre of the book reviewed—all of which are cause for concern.’
Entries are now open for the 2016 Stella Prize, which will be judged by an all-new judging panel: author and academic Brenda Walker (chair); writer and social commentator Emily Maguire; author and essayist Alice Pung; literary critic and writer Geordie Williamson; and bookseller and founder of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation Suzy Wilson. The longlist will be announced in February, the shortlist in March, and the winner in April 2016.
Tags: Stella Count
Category: Local news
