Arpita Das examines the state of women in publishing associations in India and highlights the lack of inclusion of women in high-level publishing roles and, thus, industry decision-making.

By Arpita Das | @arpitayodapress

‘Women in the industry need more spaces to interact and associate with each other.’

I was recently at the Sharjah Publishers’ Conference which kicks off the Sharjah Book Fair every year. I was there as a guest of PublisHer and the Sharjah International Book Fair in my capacity of having served as a Board Member with PublisHer between 2020 and 2023.

At the conference, I conducted a micro-workshop on why collaborations are particularly loved by women entrepreneurs in our industry, and provided mentoring to younger women joining the industry as well. Even after completing my term as Board Member with PublisHer, I remain engaged with their work, often hosting or moderating their annual meets here in New Delhi, because of the marvelous space they offer to women in publishing across borders to engage with each other, and to befriend and learn from each other.

Even as I continue to offer mentoring sessions during PublisHer events and otherwise, being with the PublisHer folks also taught me about the concept of Reverse Mentoring, thus deepening my own understanding of the process. I have written about this in an earlier column. I have to admit, however, that part of the reason I continue to remain invested in the space created by PublisHer and their work is that we have almost no such space in India.

Indeed, despite being an industry which employs a significantly large number of women, there is no real ‘women in publishing’ associational presence in this country. I made a feeble effort to make a dent in this void by starting a Women in Indian Publishing (WiIP) WhatsApp group back in 2018 when women in other creative industries were coming together over #MeToo.

The group remains active, and this fact, as well as the fact that there have been many, many feisty and also supportive discussions on this group over the years, apart from it being a space for sharing working knowledge, information regarding professional matters, and just a lot of glorious sisterhood, make me certain that I am not alone in feeling that women in the industry need more spaces to interact and associate with each other.

Recently, therefore, I thought I would do a bit of digging to see how well are women represented in the registered publishing associations in my country. After all, in an industry which is so visibly women-heavy, shouldn’t they be the ones (equally if not more) influencing policy matters affecting the industry, and representing the industry abroad? The results of my investigation were largely disappointing. The Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) is the first one I looked into. Its website reads thus:

The Federation of Indian Publishers is the representative body of publishers in English, Hindi and other regional Languages with its membership from all over India, representing more than 80 percent of the publishing industry. All the leading publishers of the country are its direct members, other publishers being represented through various local associations.

This is also the association via which the Indian industry has a voice and even a vote (or two) in the International Publishers’ Association (IPA), headquartered in Geneva. In the last 51 years of the FIP’s existence (it was formed the year I was born), however, it has not had a single female president. Out of 18 executive committee office bearers and members, there are currently 4 women. One of these four executive committee members reported that in federation meetings, 10-15 people normally show up, among them 1 or 2 women. Other senior women in the industry I reached out to had mostly discouraging things to say about their FIP membership. One remarked that she was once a member but is no longer sure that her membership is valid.

Others pointed out that they were members of the Federation of Publishers and Booksellers Associations of India (FPBAI), an older association formed in 1955. The FPBAI appears to be a more inclusive association as it is made up of publishers, distributors, and booksellers, the vital ingredients of a thriving publishing ecosystem. Its website reads thus:

Right from its inception, the Federation has maintained its federal character with affiliation of Regional Associations from various States in the country. Membership of the Federation is open to publishers, wholesalers, booksellers, distributors, companies and corporations whose business activities are concerned with production and promotion of books. The Federation also readily accepts as associate member persons or firms, both national and international, whom the Executive Committee of the Federation finds capable of furthering its aims and objects. Through the years, the Federation has attained a truly representative character to speak on behalf of the Indian Book Industry.

It speaks volumes, however, that in the 70 years since its formation, not one woman has been its president or secretary. As far as other office bearers go, only one of its committees, the Subscription & Screening Committee, currently has a woman as its chairperson (unsurprisingly, the designation next to her name reads ‘chairman’). One of the members of our Women in Indian Publishing WhatsApp group clarified that even though the house she represents is a member of FPBAI, she never attends its meetings, and is represented instead by her distributor.

I routinely meet young women from our industry who often come over for some quick over-the-coffee mentoring, advice, or just a simple heart-to-heart discussion about how hard it is to survive and thrive in publishing. Our PublisHer meetings in Delhi are well-attended for this reason as well: we are told repeatedly that this is the only time when women in the industry can gather to engage with each other, swap notes or industry experience, and renew bonds that often also translate into collaborations at the work end. Perhaps, the publishing associations ought to take note of this and do a little more to make themselves more inclusive.

A few months ago, there was much celebration in our WiIP WhatsApp group when Riti Jagoorie took over as Managing Director of Hachette India. She is one of the first very few MD/CEO-level appointments in a major publishing house in India who happens to be a woman. Of course, it must also be said here that a large number of the independent publishing houses in India, small and big, are led by women. All the same, it was a moment for celebration. Partly because women believe in sisterhood and building each other up, and also because, as I have said in many interviews and panels, as long as men continue to control the money in our industry in India, we will find ourselves outside industry-wide decision-making positions.

We already know the women are mostly doing the work which creates the value that distinguishes our industry from many others as a healthily-growing one (The 2022 India Book Market Report predicted the print book market would reach nearly $12 billion by the end of 2024); women dominate in editorial, design and promotions & publicity roles across the industry in India which is where the creative work of making and promoting books happens.

However, as long as only men populate the big-house CEO/COO/CFO roles, i.e., the roles that control the money, the fact that value is being created by the other half will forever be pushed to the sidelines. That is what needs to change. Otherwise, women’s presence in decision-making, policy-determining spaces for the industry will continue to remain like the eponymous Schrodinger’s Cat.