Why the LRB should stop cooking up excuses over lack of women reviewers.
US editors have taken on board shocking statistics on gender inequality in the literary press. So why are UK publications, such as the London Review of Books, complacent?
US editors have taken on board shocking statistics on gender inequality in the literary press. So why are UK publications, such as the London Review of Books, complacent?
'Men aren't so anxious to please' … Mary-Kay Wilmers, editor of the LRB. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe
A week after publishing 'The Public Voice of Women', Mary Beard's lecture on the silencing of women throughout history, the London Review of Books issued a pre-emptive defence of their own editorial policy on women contributors. The statement went out on an episode of Radio 4's Open Book in which presenter Mariella Frostrup asked why women writers are reviewed less, and write fewer reviews, than their male counterparts. The LRB declined to participate in the discussion but issued, in Frostrup's words, "a rather lengthy statement".
This statement (transcribed for her website by Viv Groskop) rallied against those who monitor the sex of writers and reviewers in the literary press: "Counting is a feminist weapon. 'How many women are on the board?' 'How many women are in Parliament?' 'How many women are in the LRB this fortnight?' Over the history of the LRB 82% of the articles have been written by men and 18% by women. None of the editors – count them, four men and five women – are proud of that. We need to do better."
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This statement (transcribed for her website by Viv Groskop) rallied against those who monitor the sex of writers and reviewers in the literary press: "Counting is a feminist weapon. 'How many women are on the board?' 'How many women are in Parliament?' 'How many women are in the LRB this fortnight?' Over the history of the LRB 82% of the articles have been written by men and 18% by women. None of the editors – count them, four men and five women – are proud of that. We need to do better."
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