Does it matter? Yes, it matters, because if buyers have never heard of a book they won't search out the electronic version or go into a bookshop to buy a printed copy. So it sells less well, so it makes less money, so the publishers drop the author from their lists. It also matters because editors who commission comment and criticism inevitably select contributors whose names they know. These more ephemeral extras, journalism and broadcasting, are not only PR opportunities but can bring in a sizeable percentage of a writer's income.

The imbalance may be due to commercial decisions based on a curious fact, as Lisa Jardine and Annie Watkins of Queen Mary, University of London point out: "While women read the works of both sexes, men stick to books written by men." 

We liberated women must also blame ourselves. When a journalism commission or a radio or TV appearance is arranged, the chosen contributor is often invited because he has made contact previously, selling himself, offering his services or "pitching" for a commission. 

All literary editors agree that many more men offer themselves to review books than women, and most women writers are too thin-skinned to risk repeated rebuffs. Female colleagues admit, and so do I, that we take "no" as an answer because we take rejection personally. We don't tell ourselves "they hate my idea" but "they hate me." 

It is editors and producers who can change things; it is readers and audiences that can make them realise they need to. In the end commissioning more female contributors could be a purely commercial imperative.  But women must change too. We have to toughen up. After nearly 40 years of equal rights, the shrinking violet's day is surely over.