The gender agency gap in fiction writing (1850 to 2010)

What is it about?

An analysis of works of fiction spanning 160 years shows that women have persistently been portrayed as more passive than men, especially when written about by men. In the US, cultural stereotypes often depict women as having less agency than men. To look for the presence of this bias in literature, Oscar Stuhler examined portrayals of men and women in 87,531 works of fiction written between 1850 and 2010. The author measured agency by analyzing syntax. Sentences like “A kisses B” were analyzed to determine which gender was the subject of the sentence (A) and thus was imbued with agency and which was the object of the sentence (B). Results of the study indicate that there is a gender agency gap, such that for the average verb connecting a male and a female character, men are 7.2 percentage points more likely to be the subject. The gap has declined since the 19th century but persists into the 21st. Both male and female authors assign males more agency, though the gap is larger in male-authored works.

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Photo by Gülfer ERGİN on Unsplash

Photo by Gülfer ERGİN on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Agency disparities in literature not only reflect social biases but may also play a role in shaping cultural norms around who initiates action. More so than other media, works of fiction do not only document but broadcast social norms. They help define ideas about what conduct is appropriate for different kinds of identities. Crucially, this includes shaping societal expectations about what men and women behave like.