Book Reviews in Political Theory from 1980-April 2014: A Breakdown by Gender

In our ongoing effort to get numbers on the proportion of books reviewed by men and women in political theory, we surveyed the books reviewed in Political Theory from 1980-April 2014 (not including “Critical Exchanges” or “Symposiums”). 

In contrast to the decline in the proportion of reviewed books by women in Perspectives on Politics over the last five years (noted on this blog on Tuesday), the proportion of reviewed books by women in Political Theory has steadily increased, from 14.95% (in the 1980-1984 period) to 31.6% (in the 2010-April 2014 period).   While this proportion comprises less than a third of all books reviewed, it still suggests an upward trend that we hope will continue.

Once we have some more data from other journals on book reviews, we can start asking better questions about why books by women are being more or less reviewed in different venues, and what this means (if anything) for the relative influence of men and women in the field.