Where the Boys Are Not

What does it mean when most of the publishing industry is female?

From the piece in Publishers Weekly...

It’s no secret that lots of women work in publishing. But just how many more women work in publishing than men? In PW’s recent Salary Survey (Aug. 2) one statistic stuck out: 85% of employees with less than three years of experience in the industry are women. So, while everyone knows there are more women than men working in this business, that statistic raises the question: is an almost all-female publishing industry bad for business? Does it matter?...

Others don’t see a problem with an industry that’s dominated by women. Retha Powers, assistant director of the publishing certificate program at CUNY (an undergraduate program), said she doesn’t think that 85% statistic is worrisome, noting that men and women will likely both struggle with getting men and boys to read. “I don’t think there’s potential for overlooking male readers because there’s always a focus on trying to get that elusive 18–35 male reader,” she said.

David Unger, who heads CUNY’s program, said he’s been noticing a few more men enrolling in the courses. He said that in the summer of 2009 only two of 12 students were men, but in the spring of 2010 three of eight students who did publishing internships were men. Unger said he thinks the numbers “ebb and flow” and that, possibly, as the job market tightens, and positions in fields like finance and technology become harder to get, more men may consider publishing.

Almost all those interviewed acknowledged that publishing does have hurdles to overcome in attracting men. The main impediment for attracting men, many think, is the low pay of publishing jobs, especially entry-level ones.

Lindy Hess, director of the graduate Columbia Publishing Course, said that publishing, like teaching, has been a field that’s traditionally been “more open” to women. Hess said she also assumes that there are more female English majors out there—which may be because women like to read more than men—and that’s reflected in the industry.