Dear Prof. Estrich,
       I was very interested to read in this morning's LA Times about the problem
of relatively few women writing for opinion sections.  Over a year ago I
began keeping track of women in the LA Times book review section, and
tabulated some numbers based on who was listed on the front page of the
review.  My letter to the Book Review editor, which was never acknowledged
or answered, is included below.  I did not continue to follow this, as I
was too busy with my own writing, but I was struck when the Women's Review
of Books published an article by Paula Caplan and Mary Ann Palko,
concerning the dearth of women in the NY Times book review.  The article
appeared in the penultimate issue of WROB (November 2004), which has been
forced for budgetary reasons to cease publication (I can send a copy of the
article to you if you can't get it; it is available on the internet).  I
believe there are obvious parallels in the seeming inability of male
editors to find female writers for the sections they edit, as there are
obviously many many qualified women book reviewers.  Of course with the
book review section there are additional concerns about women authors
getting reviewed.
       I don't have an email address for James Rainey, who wrote the article this
morning, but if you want to forward this to him, that is fine with me.
       My original letter to the LA Times book review editor follows below.
       Best wishes,
       Kathleen Sheldon
       Research Scholar
       UCLA Center for the Study of Women

Originally sent to the Los Angeles Times Book Review editor, February 2004,
no response ever received.
Dear Book Review editor,
       A few months ago I started noticing that the front cover rarely listed any
women reviewers, which obviously reflected the rate of inclusion of female
reviewers in the Review more generally.  I began saving the covers and
keeping a count, hoping my anecdotal observation would not be confirmed.  I
now have 11 covers, and results are extremely disappointing.  I have most
weeks from October 26 through February 8.  Overall the covers I have name
78 male book reviewers, and 9 female.  This dismal count of women is even
worse that it appears, because Susan Sontag (10/26) and Anchee Min (12/14)
did not review books, but instead were represented by essays related to
literary topics.  In addition, Susan Reynolds was listed on the cover on
12/21, although of course she contributes a column every single week, but
is almost never listed on the cover.  Subtracting those 3 leaves only 6
reviews by women to men's 78.  I did not include the special December 28
issue on neglected writers because it was exceptional in both content and
the number of women participants (16 men and 7 women).
       I hoped that the situation was improving when I saw 3 women on the
February 1 cover, but this past weekend (2/8) was back to normal, with 5
men and 0 women.  Counting and measuring do not always indicate equality
and may suggest a competition between men and women, which is not my
goal.  But I believe the numbers do demonstrate a painful reality for women
who wish to contribute to literary discussions in Los Angeles, a reality
which I hope the Editor will make an effort to change.
       Sincerely,
       Kathleen Sheldon