Women Delegates to PEN Congress Are ‘Outraged’

A heated meeting of women delegates to the 48th Congress of PEN International on Thursday produced a strongly worded statement protesting “the underrepresentation of women in panels and (public) readings.”

Of 117 panelists, the women charged, “only 16 are women.” The statement further asserted that “we are outraged at PEN’S failure to invite more women writers from all parts of the world to be panelists and moderators at this conference.”

The protest petition demanded a “public explanation” from Norman Mailer, president of the American Center of PEN, for the alleged exclusion of women. The women delegates said they would form a “committee of inquiry” to investigate the structure of PEN. They said also that they would address these issues in today’s closing plenary session.

“There are many women writers of international stature, both in the United States and abroad,” the statement said, “who could have spoken to the issues that were addressed by the panels.”