T
The Women’s Prize for Fiction recently awarded American writer Barbara Kingsolver for the second time, making it a remarkable achievement in the awards industry. In its 28-year history, no other writer has achieved this feat. The Women’s Prize is also diversifying by introducing a sister prize for nonfiction starting next year.
To understand the significance of this development, let’s rewind a bit. The idea of a fiction prize exclusively for women emerged after the 1991 Booker shortlist, which did not include any women. Unfortunately, Angela Carter’s acclaimed novel “Wise Children” was eligible for this award but she passed away before it was established.
The introduction of what was then called the Orange Prize in 1995 faced resistance from some, with Auberon Waugh even giving it the nickname “Lemon prize.” AS Byatt refused to enter her work, and Germaine Greer sarcastically suggested that there would soon be an award for writers with red hair. The original sponsor, Mitsubishi, was scared away by accusations of sexism.
While progress has been made in improving the representation of women in fiction, the focus has now shifted to nonfiction writing. On the surface, the situation doesn’t seem as dire as the 1991 Booker Prize debacle. The Women’s Prize itself states that female writers have won just over a third of the nonfiction prizes awarded in the UK over the past decade. However, the underrepresentation of women is still evident in newspaper reviews, book-of-the-year nominations, and its impact on author earnings.
If we exclude specializations like memoirs, where female writers tend to be more prevalent, the problem becomes more serious. Gaia Vince, the first woman to win the Royal Society’s science book prize, identified this issue. She traced the underrepresentation back to the publishing process, where editors, concerned about marketability, were more reluctant to accept manuscripts from women, wrongly assuming that men wouldn’t read them.
While it may seem like progress has been made with five out of the last seven Royal Society prize winners being female, a closer look at the gender split of the shortlists reveals male dominance with 26 to 16. This further reinforces the notion that women have to be exceptional to gain recognition in their respective fields.
This problem extends beyond the writers themselves and greatly affects the types of books that receive attention, resulting in a lack of diversity and perspective for readers. It is both exciting and necessary to give more women the opportunity to make their mark in various disciplines such as history, politics, sports, and other emerging areas.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
