US diversity baseline survey shows ‘incremental’ gains

In the US, results from Lee & Low’s 2023 ‘Diversity Baseline’ survey of the publishing workforce have been released, finding the industry ‘has made incremental gains in broadening its workforce since the survey was introduced in 2015’, according to Publishers Weekly.

Lee & Low said the survey went out to a much larger participant pool than previous surveys in 2015 and 2019, resulting in more varied responses, which may have impacted comparability of results with past surveys. Overall, 8644 participants responded to the 2023 survey.

The survey found that 72.5% of staff were white (down from 76% in 2019 and 79% in 2015); about 71% were cis women (down from 74% in 2019), while cis men made up about 21% (down from 23% in 2019); and people who are Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander/South Asian/Southeast Indian made up almost 8% of staff (up from 7% in 2019), Hispanic/Latino/Mexican staff 4.6% (down from 6% in 2019), and Black/African American/Afro Caribbean staff slightly over 5% (steady with 2019). The survey also found that 8.4% of respondents were biracial/multiracial, up from 3% in 2019. The percentage of people with a disability was 16.5% (up from 11% in 2019).

According to the survey, about 68.7% of publishing staff identify as straight/heterosexual, down from 81% in 2019, with the current report stating this change ‘can be largely attributed to the number that identified as bi and/or pansexual (14%)’, reporting that the proportion of respondents who identified as gay held steady at 4%, while 3% of respondents identified as lesbian (up from 2%), and almost 4% as asexual/demisexual (up from 1%).

The report also noted: ‘There continues to be an alarming lack of representation within the publishing workforce’ of American Indian/Alaskan Native/First Nations/Native American (0.1%) or Middle Eastern (0.5%) people.

Category: International news