Does gender affect reading habits?

With two posts featuring the basic results of 2024’s reader survey (see here and here), I’ve turned to the work of analysis. For example:

• Do results vary by age or gender?
• Do genre preferences drive different results?
• Does the number of books read each year affect results?

Today’s post looks at gender. (Please note that unfortunately I forgot to add an ‘other’ option to the question of gender, a dreadful mistake on my part.) The first question – how many books do you read a year? – shows that on average women read more books than men.

This is a pattern. In the 2013 survey, 51% of women read more than 30 books a year compared with 34% of men, in 2015, it was 55% and 28%, and in 2018 it was 60% and 20%.

On the topic of favourite genres, men read more fantasy, military/war stories, and science fiction, while women read more romance and women’s fiction (you aren’t surprised, are you?), as well as slightly more historical fiction.

Non-fiction preferences also vary by gender.

In terms of non-fiction, gender makes a big difference. Look at memoir, history, science/technology, and biography.

Women read more fiction than men, as a percentage of their book reading.

As for why people read, women read more for entertainment and have a slight preference compared with men for stories that enable them to appreciate other places and people in the world.

Men are somewhat more likely to purchase books online, while women are more frequent library users.

In terms of important factors for enjoyment of a novel, women value feeling immersed in the novel’s world and developing personal insights more than men.

Authors have more of an impact on men, while covers have more of an impact on women.

Both men and women place their trust in friends and a few favourite book review sites for recommendations.

For clarity, the responses are:

• from friends
• from a few favourite book review sites and/or blogs
• from Amazon
• from Goodreads
• from Facebook
• from Bookstagrammers
• from BookTok

It also seems that women value social media in connection with their reading more than men do. (I considered rankings of 2 and 3 to support this observation.)

I’m interested in your perspectives … please add to the discussion!

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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.