Gender irrelevant when it comes to work: Top women publishers

8220;There have always been women in top editorial positions in Indian publishing houses. This is not a new trend,8221; says Menon,founder of Women Unlimited,an associate of Kali for Women,who has been active in the South Asian women8217;s movement for over 20 years.

She does not feel that number of women in top editorial positions has made it more of a feminised workplace.

8220;The change has come about because of women-owned and run publishing houses,because these are generally editorial- driven,rather than market-driven,8221; Menon said.

Mita Kapur,CEO of Siyahi,says publishing in the recent past has seen women at the top and thus it is a less sexist industry in that sense.

8220;What needs to change is that we need to see more women leading sales,marketing distribution in publishing.8221;

Gender,to her,is irrelevant to her when she8217;s focussed on work and I8217;ve seen the same attitude with most women leading publishing houses.

Agrees Dipa Chaudhuri,Chief Editor of Om Books International.

8220;The point is not whether a woman or a man occupies the top editorial position in publishing,but the responsibilities the position entails and how these are discharged. The nature of the responsibilities does not change because of the gender. However,women largely head the editorial division while the administrative head may be a man.

8220;The responsibilities are different. I do not evaluate that through a 8216;sexist8217; filter8230; Core competence and creative ability,not gender,drive the choices in a publishing house,8221; she says.

To her,a woman in a top editorial position does not mean that all the readers get are either diet or beauty-tips books,or frothy romances.

8220;Going beyond gender-stereotyping,it simply means that the major categories in a publishing list do not change,that the Nuremburg Trials,the Godhra riots,Commando comics,military history,screenplays,biographies,fiction,academic studies8230;all continue to be published.8221;

The real challenges,she feels,are related to publishing issues- the kind of titles to commission,feasible print-runs,e-book trade,the impact of online sales on brick-and-mortar distribution and sales outlets,innovative marketing strategies,etc.

According to Mudit Mohini,director of Vishv Books,departments like printing and binding still have to see the same amount of increase in women staff as in other departments.

8220;The printing part of this industry is both strenuous and has long working hours as one has to be physically present to maintain the quality of printing and binding while dealing with primarily semi-skilled staff.

8220;Also lot of printing and binding happen in the night thus making it less suitable for women. But as we are moving towards technology like ebooks,print on demand this would make this genre more suitable for women,8221; she says.

8220;Children8217;s book publishing is now one of the biggest segments in publishing. And women at times become more equipped to write for children. They are able to handle the subject more creatively and in-depth. Even in the case of school books as the school industry is dominated by women teachers,we have lot of women authors and editors.8221;