From Sharjah to Seoul: Bodour Al Qasimi takes PublisHer to South Korea in support of female publishers

Bodour Al Qasimi, the CEO of Kalimat Group, has announced the opening of a South Korean Chapter of PublisHer, the pioneering international initiative she founded to support female publishers to rise to leadership in the male-dominated industry.

At the first-ever PublisHer gathering in South Korea, during the 65th Seoul International Book Fair, where Sharjah is being celebrated as the Guest of Honour, Bodour Al Qasimi told her audience she founded PublisHer four years ago so that ‘female publishers could get the recognition and professional success they deserve’.

‘Female publishers are far too often kept out of senior management and leadership positions in a sector that typically employs more women than men. This system didn’t make sense to me when I began my career in publishing more than a decade ago, and it still doesn’t. Last year, when we launched the PublisHer chapter in Brazil, our colleague Flavia Brevin said she’d never had a female boss in her entire career.

‘The shocking thing is that even in 2023 these stories are not the exception. That’s the reason I started PublisHer,’ Bodour told the gathering.

This holds true for the South Korean publishing industry as well, where according to a K-Book Trends Report published last year, the general book publishing sector is composed of 4,175 males and 5,356 females, with females accounting for a bigger proportion than males, at 56%.

Against this backdrop, Bodour Al Qasimi introduced the PublisHer platform in South Korea as part of a strategy to amplify the voices of female publishers in the region as they seek to redress gender imbalances, scrutinize current publishing culture and expose unconscious biases, discrimination, and systemic resistance to change.

‘I’m pleased to announce momentum is growing and we are launching a Korean chapter of PublisHer,’ Bodour added, inviting female publishing professionals to join the movement to create ‘an inclusive system that is free of biases and that promotes equal opportunities for publishers based on their skills, qualifications, and merit’.

Bodour Al Qasimi concluded her keynote with an insight she recently encountered in a Fast Company article on female leadership challenges, which said ‘the only way for women to advance in their workplace is to change the culture from “We want what you are not” to “We want what you are”.’

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