Canadian Women in the Literary Arts (CWILA) just announced its 3rd annual count of book reviews in Canada. The Count documents the rates at which men and women are published and reviewed in major Canadian publications, indicating concretely where equitable access and representation exists and where it can be improved. According to CWILA, the 2013 Count looked at 5613 book reviews (4354 in English and 1259 in French) published in 31 Canadian publications, including 24 literary magazines, 5 metropolitan newspapers, and 2 national newspapers. Across the board, the 2013 Count found that 56.9% of review space went to writing by male authors and 37% was allocated to writing by female authors. The Count demonstrates in exact numbers the continuing need for improvement to access and representation within Canadian literary culture. See the numbers here.
We are proud to announce that Canadian Literature has continued to demonstrate equal coverage in reviewing books by male and female writers. Canadian Literature is one of the only publications that has consistently proven a commitment to gender parity in its review section. This year 45.95% of review space went to reviews of books by male authors, 46.62% to books by female authors, and 6.76 % of space went to books that were co-authored by male and female authors. The number of female reviewers writing for the journal continues to outpace the number of male reviewers for the third year in a row as well. 58.78% of reviewers were female, whereas 41.22% of reviewers were male.
For more information on the process of reviewing at the journal, see the interview with Reviews Editor Laura Moss.
Click here to view the 2013 CWILA Count Infographic.