Women in the arts: where they at?

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Thu, 2013-06-06 11:53

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

CWILA annual reviewers count is coming up to reveal the amount of women writers out there present and working.

Last year's exposed that women are underrpresented: no way.

There was this article, WOMEN IN THE ARTS: HOW CAN WE GIVE THEM “A GENUINE SHOT AT HISTORY”?, written about CWILA and VIDA's counts as well as women's representation in art and history in response to the Guardian's article Women in art: why are all the ‘great’ artists men?.

It questions "How can [leaders of a community] that includes artists & writers & musicians & actors & creative professionals of all kinds, help change this [imbalanced representation]?

The CWILA/VIDA project is interesting, timely and necessary.

What are your thoughts on the representation of women writing and being published in literary outlets; do you think this project helps expose and potentially correct an imbalance; what can be done to have a better representation of voices?

Issues Pages:

Arts & Culture

Wed, 2013-07-10 09:43

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

CWILA 2012 count is in! 2012: The Numbers

This year rabble.ca was included in their count and as a mini interview! Exciting!

Afterwords are starting to come out and here is one from National Post, which doesn't look to kindly on rabble:

Overall the findings are certainly something to cheer about, but there is still work to be done and publications that need to step up. Women wrote only 28% of books reviewed at the Literary Review of Canada, 36% at Arc, and 29% at the seemingly “progressive” Rabble.ca.

Hmm...

Wed, 2013-07-10 09:45

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Editors on Reviewing: rabble.ca (a little tid bit):

rabble.ca’s book lounge operates a bit differently, publishing two original reviews, one excerpt and one reprint a month, so it can be a bit of a carousel of choice when choosing who and what to publish! Specifically for original reviews, at this time, I mostly work from the contributors list assembled by previous coordinator Alex Samur and assign reviews based on the specialities outlined by the reviewer and their previous work. When the book calls for it, I try to align the content and background of the author to that of the reviewer because it makes for a more in-depth and powerful review. For example, I just assigned a memoir about an Indigenous woman’s experience in a BC residential school to an Indigenous woman writer who also has a PhD in Indigenous Studies.

I definitely make an effort to choose books that represent a diversity in topic and background and subsequently make that same effort when choosing reviewers, but can slip up in an area like “gender” when trying to represent another marginalized area like “ethnicity.”

Wed, 2013-07-10 09:54

Caissa

How does one get added to the pool of potential reviewers, Kaitlin?

Wed, 2013-07-10 10:05

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

oh, i cut that part out -- just email me! kaitlin [at] rabble [dot] ca

Wed, 2013-07-10 10:08

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

For new reviewers it's helpful if you have any writing samples. Also, outlining specific areas you are interested in or any pitches is always a great idea.

Reading others interview responses on CWILA both last year and this year, it seems they a common thing is that a lot of times male reviewers are more likely to pitch than female reviewers (talking in gender binary here, sorry), which can skew publishing.

Wed, 2013-07-10 10:09

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Caissa wrote:

How does one get added to the pool of potential reviewers, Kaitlin?

AND we're updating up book info page on the books landing page very soon that will have more info for potential new reviewers and such!

Wed, 2013-07-10 10:10

Caissa

Email sent.

Wed, 2013-07-10 10:19

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

Received!

Fri, 2013-08-09 09:49

#10

Kaitlin McNabb Kaitlin McNabb's picture

rabble's two part interview with CWILA Count Manager Judith Scholes and CWILA Board Member Erin Wunker is up (!) and discusses the 2012 Count results and subsequent trends, the progress from 2011, future considerations for methodology and what the future of the CWILA is.

Here's a taste from Part I:

"Our numbers are facts," Scholes states; "they make visible the gender discrimination already felt by many women in the literary arts community. Accounting for the representation of women in critical culture through our annual count of books reviews in Canada is one of the most impactful ways we accomplish this."

And another from Part II:

These trends show, as Gillian Jerome, Chair of the CWILA Board of Directors, writes, "Canadian critical discourse still doesn’t reflect the diversity of the writers making literature in Canada, nor does it equal the calibre of our literature."

"It is problematically clichéd to observe how many people claim that attention to gender equity -- aka feminism -- is passé and no longer needed," Wunker states. "One might think of Margaret Wente’s public writing as a key example of this denigration of feminism. And yet paying attention to gender equity -- albeit in the very specific sphere of literary culture in Canada -- is crucial now."

This idea of "look, women are kind of represented now, so can we stop making the effort?" is akin to the gutting of the US Voting Rights Act, which Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg likened to "throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."