Stella Count publishes gender breakdown of reviews in ‘Saturday Paper’, ‘Sydney Review of Books’
The Stella Prize, with assistance from Books+Publishing, has published statistics showing the gender breakdown of reviews in the Sydney Review of Books (SRB) and the Saturday Paper.
The Stella Count ‘Redux’ focuses on ‘two new publications whose weekly book reviews generate much public interest’, and includes book reviews published in the Saturday Paper from 1 March to 31 December 2014 and in SRB from 1 January to 31 December 2014.
At the Saturday Paper, which publishes reviews under pseudonymous initials, 63%of reviews were of books by male authors and 37% female authors. The gender breakdown of reviewers was 60% male and 40% female. Two-thirds of the Saturday Paper’s reviews by male reviewers were of books by male authors, which supports the 2014 Stella Count finding that male reviewers are far more likely to review books by male authors than female authors.
At SRB, 64% of reviews were of books by male authors and 36% female authors, while 59% of its reviewers were male and 41% female. Seventy-eight percent of SRB’s reviews by male reviewers were of books by male authors.
The Stella Count also considered the gender split among nonfiction books. At the Saturday Paper, 32% of total reviews were of nonfiction books by male authors and 12% were of nonfiction books by female authors, while at SRB, 33% of reviews were of nonfiction books by male authors and 12% were of nonfiction books by female authors.
‘Like many other Australian review publications surveyed in the 2014 Stella Count, both Sydney Review of Books and the Saturday Paper publish more reviews written by men about books by male authors, and privilege coverage of nonfiction by men over that of women,’ said prize manager and Stella Count coordinator Veronica Sullivan. ‘Though there is still much room for improvement—as demonstrated by both publications’ results—the initiation of a conversation about accountability on the part of publications and editors is a vital step in redressing gender disparities in Australian reviewing culture.’
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