Today, 01:17 AM
I've been messing about with DeepSeek asking it for statistics relating to published poets, blog poets and workshop poets with the emphasis on workshop. It's been summarised to this. I've had to adjust the tables a bit because the formatting was messed up, but hopefully it makes sense.
Expanded Summary: Women Writing Poetry Across Different Spaces
Traditional Publishing (Literary Journals, Anthologies, Presses)
In traditional publishing, women consistently represent a minority of published poets, though they often achieve slightly higher acceptance rates when they do submit.
Metric Percentage/Ratio Notes
Women in published poetry 33-37% Analysis of Irish publishing (2008-2017)
Men in published poetry 63-67% Corresponding figure from the same analyses.
Women's acceptance rate ~6.3% Based on Raintown Review data (see workshop section).
Men's acceptance rate ~5.2% Based on Raintown Review data (women accepted at slightly higher rate).
Interpretation: Women are under-represented in traditional poetry publishing not necessarily because their work is rejected more often (acceptance rates may favor women slightly), but because they submit less frequently.
Online / Blog World (Instapoetry, Social Media Poetry)
In the commercial online poetry space, women are the dominant force both in terms of audience following and book sales.
Women's commercial dominance Overwhelming majority Top-selling poets like Rupi Kaur and Donna Ashworth drive this market.
Rupi Kaur's ranking 4th bestselling poet in UK history Trailing only literary giants Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney.
Donna Ashworth's followers 1 million+ on Facebook; 200,000 on Instagram Began as a poetry blogger in 2018.
Interpretation: When barriers to entry are removed (no magazine editors, no contests), women poets have built massive audiences and achieved unprecedented commercial success.
Poetry Workshop Websites (Most Detailed Data)
This category has the most granular data available, primarily from 2009-2011 analyses of forums like Able Muse and submission logs from journals like Raintown Review.
Data Source 1: Able Muse Forum (20-day analysis, ~2009-2011)
Workshop Board Poems by Men Women Ratio (M:W) Women's Share
Metrical Forum 31 9 3.4 : 1 22.5%
The Deep End 40 7 5.7 : 1 14.9%
Non-Metrical 19 6 3.2 : 1 24.0%
The Gazebo (free verse) 35 18 1.9 : 1 34.0%
Combined Total 125 40 3.1 : 1 24.2%
Key Finding: Across all boards, women submitted only 24% of poems workshopped, meaning men submitted over three times as many poems for critique.
Data Source 2: Raintown Review (submissions log, May 2009 onward)
Metric Men Women
Number of submitters 43 14
Number of poems submitted 155 48
Number of poems accepted 8 3
Acceptance rate 5.2% 6.3%
Key Finding: Women had a higher acceptance rate (6.3%) than men (5.2%) , despite submitting far fewer poems overall.
Additional Submission Data (circa 2010)
Venue Men's Share Women's Share
Poetry magazine ~65% ~35%
Summary Table: All Statistics by Category
Category Women's Share Men's Share Key Ratio
Traditional Publishing (Published Poets) 33-37% 63-67% ~1:2
Traditional Publishing (Submission Rates) ~35% ~65% ~1:1.9
Traditional Publishing (Acceptance Rates) ~6.3% ~5.2% ~1.2:1
Workshop Websites (Able Muse - All Boards) 24.2% 75.8% ~1:3.1
Workshop Websites (Metrical Forum) 22.5% 77.5% ~1:3.4
Workshop Websites (The Deep End) 14.9% 85.1% ~1:5.7 Most skewed; likely advanced/critical board.
Workshop Websites (Free Verse/Gazebo) 34.0% 66.0% ~1:1.9 Least skewed; free verse board.
Workshop Websites (Submission Rates - Raintown)~23.6% ~76.4% ~1:3.2 Based on submitters (14 women / 43 men).
Key Limitations
Data Age: The most detailed workshop statistics are from 2009-2011. No more recent comprehensive studies were identified.
Sample Size: The Able Muse analysis covered only 20 days on one forum; the Raintown data covered one submission period at one journal.
Inclusive Categories: Modern workshops increasingly serve transgender and nonbinary poets, but historical data (2009-2011) typically used binary gender categories.
Participation vs. Identity: The statistics measure submission behavior (poems submitted), not necessarily the gender identity of all poetry writers in the general population.
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Some interesting stats although they are quite old, there is a definite pattern there. It's interesting that the blog world is dominated by women. I noticed that when I briefly partook in that world that it was mostly women with blogs that would post a lot of poetry or simply just poetry blogs owned by women. One of them was on here years ago, Heartafire who at one point was a keen member in the sense that she took part in giving and receiving critique yet at some point deemed it no longer necessary to use the site but continue to post on a blog.
Do women not want critique as much as men? Are there women that wouldn't want critique from men?
The three categories are an interesting comparison. Do we need to ask the same question regarding ethnic diversity?
Expanded Summary: Women Writing Poetry Across Different Spaces
Traditional Publishing (Literary Journals, Anthologies, Presses)
In traditional publishing, women consistently represent a minority of published poets, though they often achieve slightly higher acceptance rates when they do submit.
Metric Percentage/Ratio Notes
Women in published poetry 33-37% Analysis of Irish publishing (2008-2017)
Men in published poetry 63-67% Corresponding figure from the same analyses.
Women's acceptance rate ~6.3% Based on Raintown Review data (see workshop section).
Men's acceptance rate ~5.2% Based on Raintown Review data (women accepted at slightly higher rate).
Interpretation: Women are under-represented in traditional poetry publishing not necessarily because their work is rejected more often (acceptance rates may favor women slightly), but because they submit less frequently.
Online / Blog World (Instapoetry, Social Media Poetry)
In the commercial online poetry space, women are the dominant force both in terms of audience following and book sales.
Women's commercial dominance Overwhelming majority Top-selling poets like Rupi Kaur and Donna Ashworth drive this market.
Rupi Kaur's ranking 4th bestselling poet in UK history Trailing only literary giants Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney.
Donna Ashworth's followers 1 million+ on Facebook; 200,000 on Instagram Began as a poetry blogger in 2018.
Interpretation: When barriers to entry are removed (no magazine editors, no contests), women poets have built massive audiences and achieved unprecedented commercial success.
Poetry Workshop Websites (Most Detailed Data)
This category has the most granular data available, primarily from 2009-2011 analyses of forums like Able Muse and submission logs from journals like Raintown Review.
Data Source 1: Able Muse Forum (20-day analysis, ~2009-2011)
Workshop Board Poems by Men Women Ratio (M:W) Women's Share
Metrical Forum 31 9 3.4 : 1 22.5%
The Deep End 40 7 5.7 : 1 14.9%
Non-Metrical 19 6 3.2 : 1 24.0%
The Gazebo (free verse) 35 18 1.9 : 1 34.0%
Combined Total 125 40 3.1 : 1 24.2%
Key Finding: Across all boards, women submitted only 24% of poems workshopped, meaning men submitted over three times as many poems for critique.
Data Source 2: Raintown Review (submissions log, May 2009 onward)
Metric Men Women
Number of submitters 43 14
Number of poems submitted 155 48
Number of poems accepted 8 3
Acceptance rate 5.2% 6.3%
Key Finding: Women had a higher acceptance rate (6.3%) than men (5.2%) , despite submitting far fewer poems overall.
Additional Submission Data (circa 2010)
Venue Men's Share Women's Share
Poetry magazine ~65% ~35%
Summary Table: All Statistics by Category
Category Women's Share Men's Share Key Ratio
Traditional Publishing (Published Poets) 33-37% 63-67% ~1:2
Traditional Publishing (Submission Rates) ~35% ~65% ~1:1.9
Traditional Publishing (Acceptance Rates) ~6.3% ~5.2% ~1.2:1
Workshop Websites (Able Muse - All Boards) 24.2% 75.8% ~1:3.1
Workshop Websites (Metrical Forum) 22.5% 77.5% ~1:3.4
Workshop Websites (The Deep End) 14.9% 85.1% ~1:5.7 Most skewed; likely advanced/critical board.
Workshop Websites (Free Verse/Gazebo) 34.0% 66.0% ~1:1.9 Least skewed; free verse board.
Workshop Websites (Submission Rates - Raintown)~23.6% ~76.4% ~1:3.2 Based on submitters (14 women / 43 men).
Key Limitations
Data Age: The most detailed workshop statistics are from 2009-2011. No more recent comprehensive studies were identified.
Sample Size: The Able Muse analysis covered only 20 days on one forum; the Raintown data covered one submission period at one journal.
Inclusive Categories: Modern workshops increasingly serve transgender and nonbinary poets, but historical data (2009-2011) typically used binary gender categories.
Participation vs. Identity: The statistics measure submission behavior (poems submitted), not necessarily the gender identity of all poetry writers in the general population.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some interesting stats although they are quite old, there is a definite pattern there. It's interesting that the blog world is dominated by women. I noticed that when I briefly partook in that world that it was mostly women with blogs that would post a lot of poetry or simply just poetry blogs owned by women. One of them was on here years ago, Heartafire who at one point was a keen member in the sense that she took part in giving and receiving critique yet at some point deemed it no longer necessary to use the site but continue to post on a blog.
Do women not want critique as much as men? Are there women that wouldn't want critique from men?
The three categories are an interesting comparison. Do we need to ask the same question regarding ethnic diversity?
wae aye man ye radgie