Are Women Better Children’s Book Authors Than Men?

I just came across an article that discussed whether or not women are better writers than men.  I was surprised that this question is batted around at all, let alone that there might actually be people who still think men are inherently better writers than women.  I thought that women had long since proven their abilities in almost every field, not just writing, and I thought that by now this kind of question is not only irrelevant, but pointless. 

However, since the question is out there, I thought I would search for some data on my own that might help illustrate the correct answer.  Since my particular area of expertise is Children’s lit, I’m only going to focus on writers of juvenile and young adult fiction.

 

In the past 30 years, 70% of the authors who won the Newbery Medal for excellence in juvenile fiction have been women.  And when it comes to sales, a list of the bestselling series books for children or young adults shows that 9 out of the top 15 series were written by female authors, with a woman as the number one best-selling author of all time (J.K. Rowling of course, who is not just the bestselling children’s author, but the best-selling author of anything.)  But even without Rowling, women still make up more than half of this list. 

Rank	Book series	Author	First published	Approximate sales
1	Harry Potter	J.K.Rowling	1997–2007	more than 400 million for the 7 main books alone
2	Goosebumps	R. L. Stine	1992–1998	more than 300 million
3	Berenstain Bears	Stan and Jan Berenstain	1962 — present	260 million
4	Choose Your Own Adventure	various authors	1979 — 1998	250 million
5	Sweet Valley High	Francine Pascal and ghostwriters	1983 – present	250 million
6	Noddy	Enid Blyton	1949–present	200 million
7	Nancy Drew	various authors as Carolyn Keene	1930 — present	200 million
8	The Railway Series (including Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends)	Rev. W. Awdry, Christopher Awdry	1945–2007	200 million
9	The Baby-sitters Club	Ann Martin	1986 — present	172 million
10	Peter Rabbit	Beatrix Potter	1902–1930	150 million
11	American Girl	various authors	1986 — present	120 million
12	The Chronicles of Narnia	C. S. Lewis	1949–1954	120 million
13	Clifford the Big Red Dog	Norman Bridwell	1963 — present	110 million
14	Twilight	Stephenie Meyer	2005–2010	more than 100 million
15	Mr. Men	Roger Hargreaves, Adam Hargreaves	1971 — present	100 million

Table 1. Best-selling series books for children. 

Nevertheless, even though the numbers seem to suggest that women are, in fact, better writers of children’s books than men, I still refuse to make that conclusion outright.  The more I think about the inanity of the question, the more I realize that no one is able to argue definitively for either side because the matter ultimately rests on subjective scores, despite what the numbers say.  I could speculate all day about why the numbers favor the women; maybe with a history of staying at home with their children, women have developed a keener sensitivity to what kids are in to.  Maybe in another thirty years the numbers will flip and the men will have more bestsellers and award winners. 

That women publish more bestsellers and award winners isn’t enough to proclaim them as better writers, and I don’t guess that’s necessarily the label that women writers are looking for.  I imagine that what most female authors would prefer is never to see another article that debates the merits of genders when it comes to purely intellectual or creative pursuits.  To create any kind of art is to have the ability to feel deeply and to express emotion through some type of creative medium.  It would be stupid for anyone to think they could make an argument that would clearly show that one sex was better than the other in such a far-reaching, ongoing media such as literature.  One who would propose such an argument would instantly seem like an arrogant ass, which would only invite others to point out the many flaws of his argument.

My sources for this article were:

“Are Women Better Writers Than Men?” Lydia Dishman. 11.13.09. http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/lydia-dishman/all-your-business/are-women-better-writers-men

“List of Best-Selling Books” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books#List_of_best-selling_single-volume_books

If you want to read more articles about this question, visit:

“5 Reasons Women Technical Writers Are Better Than the Boys” Ivan Walsh. 06.16.10. http://www.ihearttechnicalwriting.com/technical-writing/5-reasons-women-technical-writers-are-better-than-the-boys/4479/

“Are Men Better Writers than Women?” Salon Media. 06.03.98. http://www.salon.com/media/1998/06/03media.html