Women can succeed too, y'know
Why is the publishing industry dominated by men?
After nine months of maternity leave, and six months post-partum, I started to get the itch. The creative itch.
My endless hunger to create, work, and push myself to do more was calling me back to the drawing board.
I am a workaholic at heart, and even a chubby-faced-cutie-pie-baby wasn’t letting me slow down. So in January, I decided I was ready to go back to work.
I was…
…continuing the last book in a board-book series.
…offered a product illustration project I couldn’t say no too.
…starting the manuscript of my next author/illustration book.
…preparing my presentations for a university talk.
I was starting to feel like myself again. I even filmed a video on how well I was adjusting and how much I wanted this!
Everything was going great… until it wasn’t.
January had its bumps. February was hell.
I found myself crying daily, overwhelmed by everything I needed to do, while also being smacked in the eye by a chubby baby fist (also, why do his nails grow back so fast???).
Although it was somewhat easier to work when he was still an immobile jellybean on the rug, he’s now a crawling HUMAN BEING with wants and interests and loud yelling (and never sleeps) who needs constant supervision. And juggling all my projects and him was impossible, without something being sacrificed.
And what I chose to give up was my sleep, physical health and mental health.
This came to a head at the end of February when I came to the realization that this just wasn’t sustainable. I decided that after March, when my projects wrapped up, I wouldn’t take on anything and just focus on myself.
Why did I think that I could work at the same capacity that I did before I had a baby?
It simply isn’t possible, especially with a baby who hates to sleep. There just aren’t enough hours in a day.
Do I adore my baby?
Of course. I wouldn’t change a thing. But still, I felt frustrated that I can no longer do whatever I want, whenever I want, and work towards my career/creative ambitions in the same capacity I did while was a single pringle.
And I can already hear the comments now.
“Anoosha, you just had a baby! Be kind to yourself! Parenting is hard work!! You’re doing amazing! It takes time!!!”
I know, I know.
But again, why did I feel like I could go back to exactly how I used to work?
International Women’s Day was last week, and artist Katie Harnett shared some brilliant statistics on the role women play within the picture book illustration industry (she focuses on the UK, but the sentiment is the same across the pond.)
Namely, despite the fact that a majority of the industry is made up of female authors, illustrators, librarians, students etc… Men seem to dominate. Whether it is the percentage of award winners, who is selected for panels, festivals and visits, who becomes a household name.
It’s a strange phenomenon.
Why is it that the men in our industry end up with all the fawning fame (being idolized to a pretty gross level) while women are left behind as an after thought? This reminds me of fashion, where despite women being the consumers, I struggle to think of any female designer but can rattle off a dozen male powerhouses.
Is it because illustration is seen as a cutesy hobby until it becomes serious work when a man takes over? Like how mom can cook all day long in the kitchen without applause, but somehow the culinary industry is male-dominated?
If you get the chance, I highly recommend reading the comments in Ness Wood’s post. There is an excellent discussion on why this disparity might exist. Is it a lack in confidence in women that allows mediocre men to fail upwards? Is it the mere fact that because the industry is so female-dominated, that the men stand out because of it?
I’m not saying these creators don’t deserve it, but there are so many incredibly talented female authors and illustrators that I can name who are not receiving their flowers, and I can’t help but wonder if things would be different if they were male (and/or white!)
And apart from more opportunities and fame, do higher advances also play into this? I was reminded of #PublishingPaidMe from a few years back, where authors and illustrators were sharing their advances to highlight pay disparity between white and BIPOC authors and encourage wage transparency. I myself shared my advances and so did a lot of my peers, but I found it interesting that my male colleagues did not chip into the conversation. Did they have something to hide?
One comment in particular resonated with me from
:
As my dear friend
put it:I love how when writers get asked how having kids changed their lives, women have these incredible complex and complicated answers. And then men are like “lol idk it’s cool not much has changed.”
SO what does this have to do with my introduction?
With my new book coming out in less than a month, I have been struggling to find the time to promote it.
My last release, Lost Stick, was right in the middle of my pregnancy last year and I unfortunately couldn’t focus at all on the publicity because of my health. I had vowed to make up for it for Salt Princess, but it seems like it will be neglected too.
Just recently, I had to decline an all-expenses paid literary festival visit because it would’ve been too difficult to coordinate the travel with my baby. I was devastated because I have never had an opportunity like this before, and I couldn’t help but wonder how much easier it would be to drop everything if I was the Dad.
I don’t have much of a conclusion to this post. Its a topic worth discussing and I would love to hear your thoughts on this disparity, how you balance parenting/work, and everything else.
I just know that for the foreseeable future, my career is going to look a bit different and I just have to find a way to balance things. But importantly, every month is going to look different and that’s ok. Maybe today I’m saying that I am taking a break, but I have a feeling that a few months later I’ll be back to same ol’ Anoosha and rushing back into things again.
Typical me.
Anyway! As I said, I have a new book coming out called The Salt Princess. You can preorder it here.
I would love to hear who your favourite female/NB authors and illustrators are. Please share the love in the comments.
I love that you’re making space for this conversation. It is a very important topic and it’s very interesting to see it played out in the industry. I remember in art school I couldn’t understand how 70% of the school was female, but I only ever had one or two female professors. And I really had no idea about the statistics that you mentioned. It’s definitely tougher if you’re not white but I think we can do it.
To me you’re THE illustrator that is killing it and I just know that once you balance your baby and work life you’re gonna kill it even more. Like if I really think about it I only follow 3 male illustrators lol
Yes to all of this!
Some of my favs are Rebecca Green, Yas Imamura, Vanessa Gillings, Taryn Knight, Claire Powell, and Sarah Gonzales; and that's just naming a few!
As a woman trying to get my foot in the door in the industry, it's definitely been weird to attend seminars and conferences and see so many women / femme presenting folks contrasted with the types of people winning awards and recognition (mostly men).
For a very long time I was a ✨very serious musical theatre actress✨ and one of the things that always confused me was that, despite how female dominated the industry is (both at an amateur and professional level), most shows had either 50/50 men/women for lead and speaking roles, or more male roles than female ones! Or in thinking about education: the vast majority of educators across the globe are women, yet the highest and more prestigious educators are majority male.
Women are really responsible for really pouring the love and passion into these industries, but tie an award or money or recognition to it and suddenly the men come out of the woodwork. Something about a man being involved suddenly seems to make things more 'serious.'
Whew long comment! Anyways, thank you for sharing-- motherhood is so vulnerable and your honesty around navigating career and raising a little one is so valuable!