Friday, February 11, 2011

Mind that Gender Gap

Image Credit: George Bates


The biggest defenses of the numbers seem to be:
  • More men than women are published.
  • Men submit more work than women.








  1. Yes yes yes. I agree completely.

  2. This is such an articulate post on the status quo. It's tiring trying to share these kind of statistics or perspectives with individuals that don't believe these gaps exist. I frequently hear derogatory statements about womens' roles as eye candy in my office. It makes me sick to my stomach, especially when I know I'm smarter than most of the individuals making these comments. The point of this little annoyance is that no one thinks that what's being said is even offensive. That women are this- or women enjoy this- is poorly conceived and yet massively dispersed. Frustration. I saw that you recently said these topics were really getting to you, you know, once you had literally been intensely engaging yourself in this type of material. And it does. It's painful- and maybe that's why most women don't talk about it. They buy in and walk away because it's just another problem and who needs that. I've had moments where I couldn't read another article/title about women in advertising- I stopped watching tv, movies- it was everywhere. But I'm back and appreciate this post. It's so nice to see other females/individuals that care about the same issues. Studies have shown that children usually associate language referring to power and intelligence connote the male gender, while compassion and excessive signify the female gender. With the second example bearing the burden as seen as pejorative and certainly unwanted. I'm interested to see your review of Delusions of Gender and want to pick up a copy myself. Thanks for this post; I really enjoyed it!

  3. I'm glad others feel the same way! Katha Pollitt, whom I adore, wrote an excellent piece over at Slate earlier today that I'll either update into this post, or include separately. The gist is that only women are talking about this - after all, why would the privileged group be nearly as concerned about parity as those getting less credence? These attitudes are so incredibly pervasive many of us don't realize we're also guilty of perpetuating the very patriarchal 'norms' that are keeping us down, so to speak. It's distressing, at the very least. I think we have to keep holding everyone accountable, though, including ourselves. We may be considered humorless and tiresome, but it's the only way we'll ever see real change in the long term. At least, that is my hope.

  4. It's frequently been noted that men hold more high-level corporate jobs than women, and are paid more, but I think the Vida statistics got people talking because reading and writing are seen as such "feminine" activities. If women read so much, why aren't we published just as much? Really enjoyed this post, it's definitely a concern that needs to be reflected on, and long-term goals should be set.

  5. zebracactus - I'm glad you liked the post. It seems this is still generating related articles around the internet, at least, a whole 3 weeks after the study was released. So that's a small start.


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