From A Room of Her Own

I’ve been accepted to the writers’ retreat called A Room of Her Own. It’s a retreat for women inspired by the continued dominance of men in writing and art.

WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW SURVEY OF LITERARY LEADERS VOTED TONI MORRISON’S BELOVED THE SINGLE BEST WORK OF AMERICAN FICTION PUBLISHED IN THE LAST 25 YEARS.

HOW CAN IT BE THAT…?

• All four winners of the 2009 National Book Award (for Poetry, CNF, Fiction, and Youth Literature) were men
• 14 out of 57 winners of the National Book Award for Fiction are women (2007)
• 14 out of 55 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction are women (2008)
• 21 out of 85 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry are women (2008)
• Women writer’s won 63% of the awards but less than 30% of the money in awards and grants reported by Poet’s & Writers (Jan/Feb 2003)
• Only 21 women have won writing awards in the 80 years of the Oscars (2007)
• Of the major artists represented by major New York galleries only 16% are women
• A recent study by the Coalition of Women’s Arts Organizations showed that in all one-person shows for living artists in American museums, only 2% of the featured artists were women
• A 1992 study that only 17% of artists in galleries nationally were women, whereas the Bureau of Labor indicated that 48% of professional American artists were women
• 51% of all visual artists are female and women hold 53% of art degrees, but 80% of art faculty members are male
• 68% of total art income in the U.S goes to men and 73% of all grants and fellowships in the arts go to men

As I prepare this post I can imagine the whining about lowering the bar, etc. That’s a defense mechanism if ever there was one.