Are women being translated less than men?
We decided to compare rates of translations into English for books by men versus books by women. You'll never believe the shocking results!
1. Approximately 30% of new translations into English are books by women writers
2. Most of the top publishers of literature in translation publish very few women in translation... and top publisher AmazonCrossing is the only one trying to make up for it!
3. University presses struggle even more to promote women in translation...
4. The imbalance exists across many languages...
5. ...and many countries!
6. "Sure, but SOME parts of the world are more sexist and old-fashioned..." NOPE.
7. "But women mostly write Genre, not Literature!" STILL NOPE.
The stats are really eye-opening (and depressing). Above all, the fact that there hasn't been much change, in spite of all the talk. I'm sure that somewhere someone (probably a man) is saying: 'Well, maybe there just aren't enough good women writers out there...' This is exactly what was said about why there are no women contenders for leadership in the UK recently. It's always easy to find that excuse, isn't it?
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