Their focus is literary fiction and a number of the winners are from non Anglo Saxon writers or those writing English as a 2nd language. In literary fiction there are still much fewer women published. It's still an old boys network. And there is little gender equality in any marketplace anywhere in the world. Women make much less. The reason more women are published in commercial fiction is because males are making more money in gaming, film or more creative lucrative pursuits. In fact the dismal return for commercial writers probably has much to do with the fact that women are in it and what would be a pittance to a man looks acceptable for a woman's time. It still stands that unless a specific place for women's issues as described by women exists, they will not get heard. There are specific genre's for LGBTQ for that reason. You put a cloche over a plant when it is too tender to survive. Until there is actual gender equality and women's voices are listened to with as much respect as a middle-class males- I have no problem with nurturing women's literary fiction and nonfiction.
