Comments on: Shortlist for “Arab Booker”: Where are the women? http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2010/01/shortlist-for-arab-booker-where-are-the-women/ Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:36:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Weekend Link Love « The Feminist Texican http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2010/01/shortlist-for-arab-booker-where-are-the-women/#comment-7720 Weekend Link Love « The Feminist Texican Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:17:23 +0000 http://muslimahmediawatch.org/?p=5386#comment-7720 [...] Muslimah Media Watch: Shortlist for “Arab Booker”: Where are the women? [...] [...] Muslimah Media Watch: Shortlist for “Arab Booker”: Where are the women? [...]

]]> By: Zahra (with a Z) http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2010/01/shortlist-for-arab-booker-where-are-the-women/#comment-7719 Zahra (with a Z) Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:12:57 +0000 http://muslimahmediawatch.org/?p=5386#comment-7719 A very interesting piece. I'm glad to learn more about this prize, and Awad's words about tokenism are dead-on. There may not be a deliberate effort to have only one women per year, but the more years the pattern happens the more suspicious it looks. Male bias in "literary fiction" book publishing, and especialy amongst prestigious prizes, has been a pervasive problem in the US and UK, where short-lists and judging panels often remain overwhelmingly male, even as the vast majority of writers publishing fiction (and readers) have become female. I'll be interested to see if media coverage has any effect on this prize next year. A very interesting piece. I’m glad to learn more about this prize, and Awad’s words about tokenism are dead-on. There may not be a deliberate effort to have only one women per year, but the more years the pattern happens the more suspicious it looks.

Male bias in “literary fiction” book publishing, and especialy amongst prestigious prizes, has been a pervasive problem in the US and UK, where short-lists and judging panels often remain overwhelmingly male, even as the vast majority of writers publishing fiction (and readers) have become female.

I’ll be interested to see if media coverage has any effect on this prize next year.

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