Why Not More Women Editorial Cartoonists?

Part of the problem is the decreasing number of any jobs for editorial cartoonists, but why has the print biz done such a lousy job of hiring women for these jobs? According to this article, “less than 4 percent of editorial cartoonists on major syndicates are female.”

That’s astoundingly bad when you stop and reflect on it.

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Xaviar Xerexes

Wandering webcomic ronin. Created Comixpedia (2002-2005) and ComixTalk (2006-2012; 2016-?). Made a lot of unfinished comics and novels.

11 Comments

  1. Because it takes real balls to be an editorial cartoonist. And women don’t have balls. Well, at least normal women. 🙂

  2. Maybe not many women what to bitch and moan and whine for a living.

  3. You’re right. I bet it’s much easier to be a stripper or prostitute.

    Darn!

    😀

  4. Missing from the article: How many of the applications recieved by the syndicates for editorial positions are from females?

    THAT information is required before any judgement can be passed. See, if 4 percent of the applications for editorial positions are from females, then the fact that 4 percent of the positions are filled by females is FINE.

    How many webcomics are drawn by women? Has anybody counted? The barriers to entry there are not erected (chortle) by powerful white male editors, so the sampling would be much more significant. From there perhaps you could extrapolate some sort of meaningful position about female cartoonists and female editorial cartoonists.

    The only thing “astoundingly bad” is the fact that the article takes a position without mentioning the absence of complete data.

  5. Plus strippers and prostitutes will get more respect than editorial cartoonists.

  6. How many webcomics are drawn by women? Has anybody counted?

    Check the archives for this article, which appeared on this very website only nine days ago: “Crunching The Numbers: A Look At Gender And Comics” by Erik Melander.

    Okay, it’s more like a statistical sample rather than an actual head-count, but some DID look and comment on that specific point.

  7. Cause a woman satirist is like a man that can produce milk. Their minds aren’t made that way.

  8. Wait a minute… wait wait…. so you’re saying my lactating nipples make me a freak of nature or something?

  9. Because politics are boring. It’s always “meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”

  10. Good point. Melander’s article (which I just now read) was VERY telling, and does appear to demonstrate that the syndicated professional arena is biased towards male cartoonists.

    Xerxes should have linked to it. 🙂

    –Howard

  11. You know what that “less than 4 percent” is?

    Four.

    Editorial cartoonists, male and female, are being hunted to extinction. There’s not much room for change in a field that is so small and has no growth.

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