Two 29-year-old British women, annoyed that the bookstore WH Smith had a section devoted to women’s fiction, wrote Kate Swann, WH Smith CEO, to demand the removal of the category. They wrote that the section was too pink and fluffy, and lacking in classic authors, and therefore presumably demeaning to women.
Their appeal to the “sisterhood” paid off — Swann agreed and changed company policy:
WH Smith is many things. Quintessentially British and comfortingly familiar. It’s also the one place where you can buy – unplanned, suddenly and right here, right now at the till! – the most gigantic chocolate bar in the world for only £1. A horrific decision where either way feels like the wrong call.
Until now, however, WH Smith has not exactly been seen as an ovary-pulverising bastion of rampant misogyny. But following an appeal by two female customers from Tonbridge, Kent, written “in sisterhood” to WH Smith’s chief exec, Kate Swann, from October the store will remove all reference to “women’s fiction” at points of sale.
I find it ironic that Kate Swann, a female CEO, decided to put politics before profits with so little prompting, which would suggest that women are indeed less competent in serious matters, such as classic fiction, big business, etc.
The thing is, women’s fiction sells — a lot. So do the comic book, self help book and DIY book genres, each of which also has its own category. It is a perfectly logical category for the millions of British women who buy women’s fiction, as well as the authors who sell it. Therefore, one would think that a complaint about such a category from a couple pedantic feminists would be “taken under advisement” at the very most rather than instantly become corporate policy.
What is happening here is that even as the “women’s fiction” category is removed from the store’s floor, another equally fluffy and pink one is being created in the business world: women CEOs.
