Associate Professor at the Department of Information and package coordinator of the BIS Publishing programme, Beth le Roux, presented a paper at USTC Conference 2021 on Gender and the Book Trades. The Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) is the most comprehensive catalogue of the early modern print world. The virtual conference took place from 16-19 June 2021.

Prof le Roux’s conference paper was titled, ‘Best left to men’: women and publishing histories in Africa. The abstract reads as follows:

In research on publishing and print culture in Africa, little attention is paid to the role or involvement of women. While there are many studies of women as writers and of how women are depicted and interpellated as readers in women’s magazines, as well as some recent profiles of women publishers, male publishers remain the default in publishing histories. The often flamboyant, eccentric male founders of publishing imprints have been the focus of most interest – they are depicted as taking calculated risks, being uncompromising and confident, and being both charming and difficult to work with. These traits have been associated with masculinity, and publishing has thus been constructed as a masculine enterprise, even as the industry has become increasingly staffed by women. Asenath Bole Odaga, a Kenyan publisher, experienced this gender discrimination when she was told that publishing was a complex business, "best left to men", and dissuaded from establishing her own publishing house. Based on such examples, we know that many women have been involved in the book trade – sometimes as the wives or family members of the male figureheads – but often in less visible roles in the background, and their stories have not been told. This paper will explore the dynamics of how male publishers are portrayed in histories of African publishing and book production, as well as considering ways in which women could be written back into this history.