Overview

How many volumes in our library are the work of women? Probably few, in fact already in the process of choosing the volumes to buy one immediately realizes a certain gender gap both in the catalogs and in the criticism, a gap confirmed by national data (only 38.4 per cent of authors who publish fiction for adults are women). An analysis of the publishing sector also shows strong asymmetries both in the distribution of roles and in the awarding of awards to writers, despite the fact that women achieve better results in education and training and attend bookstores and libraries with greater assiduity than men. Knowing all this, we can responsibly try to work toward the diminishing of the gender gap and to actively support a cultural change towards definitive gender equality.