Books balanced! I've now recorded reading as many women as men. In 2011 I started tracking the books I'd read. In 2016 I wrote about being an accidental sexist and in 2018 I wrote about book balance. It's taken a long time to correct the bias in what I've read but finally the books have balanced!
The Numbers
| Books by: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | All | Female authors | Male authors | Non Binary authors |
| Total | 223 | 111 | 110 | 2 |
| 2021 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 50 | 34 | 15 | 1 |
| 2019 | 39 | 26 | 12 | 1 |
| 2018 | 34 | 21 | 13 | 0 |
| 2017 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 |
| 2016 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| 2015 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| 2014 | 15 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| 2013 | 19 | 3 | 16 | 0 |
| 2012 | 16 | 1 | 15 | 0 |
| 2011 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
A list of these numbers and all the books I've read can be found in my book project
Thoughts
Whilst I tried to update my reading habits in 2015 I soon reverted to type - in 2016 reading more male authors again. Only continued efforts since then have managed to bring back the numbers to now being equal.
Even then this is only 'equal' in the books I have noted down. Who knows what the real score would be if I went back further and added up all the books I've ever read. I'm sure the male narrative is still dominant in my true history of reading.
Was it a chore? Not at all - one of the many reasons I read is to explore new worlds and see things differently. Reading not only a diverse range of stories but a diverse group of voices has kept me entertained and happy. There have been some amazing books and some terrible ones along the way regardless of the gender of the author. The range and variety of the highs has been life enhancingly excellent.