In 2020, the United Nations declared a “Decade of Action” to signal that progress towards their Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)—17 goals offering a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all—was not advancing quickly enough. At the time Mary Glenn, chief of UN publications, underscored the importance of the book industry in helping to advance these goals: “Publishers are a key constituency, not just in terms of actual business practices, but in terms of amplifying the message.”
Now the UN is ringing alarm bells: 2030 is in sight, but the meeting of the SDG objectives is not. Given publishers have an outsized role to play in advancing them, everybody needs to consider signing the SDG Publishers Compact which requires aligning daily practices, content, and measures of success towards the SDGs, if they have not yet done so. Much of the work publishers do is already contributing to the SDGs, so now is the time to amplify our industry’s impact and join forces with other organizations to accelerate the progress.
PublisHer—a female-led call to action whose quest is to create global awareness of the long-standing issues surrounding the advancement of women within the male-dominated publishing industry—is also now fostering the advancement of the SDGs and particularly SDG5, Equality for Women, through its own organizational blueprint.
Founded by Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi five years ago, PublisHer has moved swiftly in its efforts to reach women all over the globe, striving not only to help them rise to their potential, but also to the top. Since then, the organization has hosted dozens of events, mentorship sessions, consultations and listening sessions at global literary events to develop an international perspective on key challenges faced by women in the publishing and creative industries.
On September 30 this year PublisHer hosted its first North American event in New York, in collaboration with UN Publications and the NYU SPS Centre for Publishing and Applied and Liberal Arts. The date of the event was purposeful, following the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and offered a call to action to those working in publishing to use their positions of power to drive SDG progress. A panel conversation moderated by Mary Glenn centered on innovation and financial impacts when women move up the ranks in publishing.
Publishing heavyweights Sabrina McCarthy, president of Bloomsbury US; Regina Brooks, president of the Association of American Literary Agents and founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency; and Judith Curr, president and publisher of HarperOne Group, HarperCollins Publishing, discussed how women in positions of influence can support gender equality on a large scale. The session touched on how new formats and distribution models are helping to amplify more diverse voices and promote inclusivity, as well as creating new markets for books.
Following the panel, Brooke Dobson, chief revenue officer and Brittaney Pinney, chief customer officer of Shimmr, shared insights into “AI for Good in Publishing,” including the best approaches to amplifying women’s voices and stories.
Continuing in the vein of innovation, details of PublisHer’s collaboration with Visa in support of their signature ‘She’s Next’ project, with a focus on the publishing sector, was shared with the audience. The program supports female-owned small and medium sized businesses through funding training and mentorship, with PublisHer providing Visa with unique insights into gender disparity both regionally and internationally.
Lisa Lyons Johnston is a global publishing consultant and speaker and PublisHer Advisory Board member.
