I write comedy. Yes it’s brilliant – but have I been given a chance? No. It is virtually impossible in the TV industry to allow a woman who writes comedy compete or even “work with” men – unless you are already a stand-up comic who has”made it”; or have a husband or close connection in Hollywood who can get you in; or you are a producer or director in Hollywood. As far as theatre is concerned, once I read my one and two act comedies to the theatre group I am in and got several compliments – the woman actress in charge of the group cut me and blocked me from reading anymore. And I got no support from anyone. Writing comedy as a woman is a huge threat to men and to other women who have made a career of keeping in their place – drama. No comedy.

As far as publishing – in a nutshell, if you are a single woman with basically no resources – count on not getting the marketing attention that your book deserves, even when there are over twenty reviews stating the need for your material. Some publishers take huge advantage of older (even younger) single women – for example: The African-American woman scholar who wrote a book on slavery that she submitted to a Hollywood studio that rejected it. Then some time later, she discovered that they totally ripped her work off when she saw it playing out in a movie theatre. She sued them and won a settlement. I am sure that there are more instances.

That’s an interesting point and I agree that our reading habits will hopefully influence the gatekeepers and more importantly, the marketing departments that package women’s writing as ‘less significant’ than men’s. However, you are putting words in my mouth. Just because my novel is historical fiction and not a romance, does not mean that I do not enjoy reading romance novels. I recently wrote a blog about how contemporary romance novels are categorised on Amazon – it turned out that if they were written by men, they were filed under ‘Fiction’ and if they were written by women, they were filed under ‘Women’s Fiction – Romance’. These were essentially the same subject matter, yet were placed in completely different genres. However female authors tend to be grouped together under the genre of ‘Women’s Fiction’, even if the subject matter of the books are completely varied. Similar to the genre ‘Chick Lit’ (of which I am also a fan) it’s not the books that are the problem, it is how they are marketed. I like to believe that female writers do support each other and so far, that has been my experience. I appreciate your comment, as it has given me the opportunity to clarify my intention in this article. It’s not about putting one genre above another, but to highlight the inconsistencies that female authors face every day in publishing.

Women read and buy books. We control a lot of what happens, but we buy into this stupid nonsense. Women run down women just as fast if not faster than men in an effort to gain credibility. I hear it, I see it, I read it. It needs to stop.

Instead, cram the artistic and commercial power of female writers and readers into the face of anyone who runs down your fellow female writers, and things will start to change. Write the editors, refuse to cooperate with the papers and gatekeepers- I cancelled my subscription over things like this. I told them why. Commercial pain, cures a lot of bad habits.

And btw… there’s nothing wrong with Romance. It’s a billion dollar genre. It’s precisely that kind of attitude that runs down women writers. You’ve just basically been dismissive of literally thousands of writers and millions of readers. Great art can be found in the genre. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. I think a ton of the stuff editors read is drawn out, boring, and self-indulgent- it’s a matter of preference. So while you’re complaining that no one takes women writers seriously… how about you not put yourself above an entire genre and millions of people.

Love the sound of your novel Alison! I agree, self-publishing is more of a level playing field because there are no gatekeepers deciding who gets through and who doesn’t. You make a very important point – women themselves need to own their equality. Despite the lip-service paid to gender equality, daily life in our society is constantly telling us something different. Twitter has been a crash course in gender equality for me, with authors like Joanne Harris highlighting the myriad of ways in which she is discriminated against in her career. As women, I think we need to keep having the discussion and teaching our daughters that equality is a right, not a fictional idea. Thanks for your comment 🙂

In the indie writing community it’s less of a problem. We are all having to make our own way, whether we write crime or corsets.

The problem’s root is society’s structure: until women are accepted as truly equal by themselves and by others, this attitude in publishing will persist.

It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? Maybe I’ll do that too and see what happens! It is frustrating though, knowing that your work is going to be viewed differently if you are a woman. I just wrote a blog about gendered book covers, which further cements the fact that female authors are ‘handled’ very differently to men. Best of luck with your submissions and thanks for the comment 🙂