Is the books world short-changing its bright young women?

Do men have an unfair advantage in our literary prize shortlists?


A variation on why don't women write books with big ideas (to which the answer is, I suspect, if they do it doesn't get counted as a big idea) which also then takes in why don't women present big documentaries?

What was the last female fronted documentary - leaving aside Cash in the Attic, Car Boot Challenge and whatever the Channel 4 sex show was called? These clearly don't stand up there with Schama, Winston, Starkey, Ferguson etc. Those art programmes with a nun and Victoria Wood on empire is the best I can do. But authored documentaries? Even when Paglia and Greer are doing stuff, it tends to be one off.

On the short list issue, I confess to a certain amount of "Well Zadie Smith gets everywhere" - but there's the old line about swallows and summers, and I got there by thinking "That Brick Lane woman, whatsername", although I was thinking about Zadie Smith despite going via a book by Monica Ali (Ali Smith was the mental jump).

The writer suggests that we don't like pushy women so they don't get onto shortlists. Or to do documentaries.

From: [identity profile] pigeonhed.livejournal.com


There is an area of documentary programme where women do seem to be more prominent. The wildlife programme, with the likes of Charlotte Uhlenbroek, Saba Douglas-Hamilton, Kate Humble, and the woman who does the free-diving whose name I forget. Coast also featured Alice Roberts and Miranda Krestolnikoff quite a bit.
It's lighter, popular stuff rather than heavyweight rathere than the Schama type authore documentary though.
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