Representation of women authors ‘encouraging’ but gaps remain in software and music: US Copyright Office
Women authors have made “considerable progress” in utilising the US copyright system, according to a new report from the US Copyright Office.
Released on Thursday, June 9, “ Women in the Copyright System: An Analysis of Women Authors in Copyright Registrations from 1978 to 2020” reveals that women represented nearly 28% of authors of works registered in 1978, increasing to 38.5% of authors of works registered in 2020.
Additionally, nearly 42% of all works had at least one female author in 2020.
While the level of representation has increased across the board—with the annual number of copyright registrations remaining relatively stable since 1978–there are significant variations among different categories of works.
For example, women authors were listed in just over half of registrations for nondramatic literary works in 2020. However, registration rates for sound recordings with women authors were 19% in 1978 and had only increased to 22% in 2020.
Registrations for the period from 1978 to 2020 found that only 13% of machine-readable work or computer program registrations listed female authors. However, the proportional share has nearly tripled for this type of work since 1978 (rising from 7.5% to 20.5%).
In nearly every category, women make up a smaller share of copyright registrants than they do of the participants in corresponding occupations.
“Together these data paint a picture of two levels of underrepresentation of women within the copyright ecosystem: first, women are underrepresented in many but not all copyright-related occupations relative to their proportional share of the broader workforce, and second, they are underrepresented in most categories of copyright registrations relative to their measured participation in the corresponding occupations,” said the report.
According to the report, data from 2003 to 2020 shows that on average women authors were 21.5% less prevalent among copyright registrations than among participants in associated copyright-related occupations. This gap is shrinking, however, and averaged 14.5% from 2011 to 2020.
The report draws on work by professor Joel Waldfogel, the Copyright Office’s 2021 Kaminstein scholar in residence.
Register of copyrights Shira Perlmutter said: “The trends revealed are encouraging, with women making considerable progress in utilising the copyright system. At the same time, there is work to be done in reaching gender parity in most areas.
“As part of the office’s commitment to ‘copyright for all,’ we look forward to continuing to collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders to develop programmes responsive to this research, and further empower women to benefit from their creativity.”
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