Happy International Women’s Day 2023 #EmbraceEquity.
In the world of creative writing, women seem to outnumber men in local writing groups and literary festival participation. One could be forgiven for thinking it’s a woman’s world in that space these days.
Yet men continue to dominate the field of awards and prizes. (https://lithub.com/on-sexism-in-literary-prize-culture/)
Additionally, research demonstrates that ‘male characters are four times more prevalent in literature than female characters‘ (https://www.newswise.com/articles/study-finds-that-males-are-represented-four-times-more-than-females-in-literature)
Change occurs over time.
Gone are the days (hopefully) when women had to write under a male nom-de-plume to have their writing accepted.
The more women write, and write well, the more equity there will be in the hallowed halls of judging literary contributions.
Now, the question remains – how to correct the legacy of history primarily written by men? Again there have been efforts (remember the ‘herstory’ movement) to modify the lens through which historical events, actions and writings have been documented. However, historical writing tends to still be dominated by men (Thomas Keneally, Peter Fitzsimons for example).
Meanwhile, to #EmbraceEquity, female writers can gain confidence in not only writing more but in submitting their work for publication in our competitions and anthologies.
Need some inspiration? Here’s a list of just a sample of women writers over the years.
- https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/apr/06/10-inspiring-female-writers-you-need-to-read
Who’s your favourite female author?
melanie wass 