Not only do studies show that women make up 80% of fiction book sales in the UK, US, and Canada, but women are also more likely than men to go to literary conventions, be library members, audio book readers, or literary bloggers. Women in general are more often the ones who teach their children to read or who form the book clubs, so who better to write books and in turn, who better to read books by other than female authors? If you’re not convinced by this, here are some more reasons why you should read more books written by women!
- Read About Shared Experiences
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This is not to knock all of the wonderful male author’s out there but lets be honest, when they write about women, they don’t share in any of those firsthand experinces in the same way that women do! It is so important for women to be able to read about other women’s exeperiences and know that they aren’t alone. It’s all about showing women more ways that they can grow and learn more about how to make it through today’s world as a woman.
- Broaden Your Frame of Reference
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Most people who read books purely for pleasure might not even realize that their reading list is mostly male dominated! The best thing you can do in that case is really look over the books you’ve previously read and consider branching out to more books with women authors. This would give you the chance to expose yourself to different types of stories that centre the exeperiences of other women that might be more diverse or complicated than our own! It’s just as important to acknowldge and learn about different experiences, just as much as we do with experiences we relate to.
- Support Other Women
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When it comes to branching out and working to intentionally incorporte female authors into your reading lists, the reason for doing so can be as simple as wanting to support other women and their passions! It is continuously shown that men tend to dominate the literary marketplace and it can be quite liberating to immerse yourself into worlds that were controlled by a woman’s pen and viewpoint.
Whatever your reason may be for wanting to start incorporating books by women into your every day life, just know that what you’re doing is SO important. Take a look at your bookshelves, broaden your horizon of perspectives! You might even learn more about yourself along the way or find that you weren’t alone in your feelings after all. Sometimes attempting to reassess the gender imbalance isn’t enough, you also have to be an active part of changing the world’s reading culture. Inclusivity (even in your book choices) is key!!