Women in speculative fiction

There are several aspects to the roles of women in speculative fiction, including their participation as authors of speculative fiction and their role in speculative fiction fandom.

Speculative fiction, especially science fiction, has traditionally been viewed as a male-oriented genre. But there have been women authors and women fans from the start.

Regarding authors: Women have written utopian novels for a long time, with Margaret Cavendish publishing the first (The Blazing World) in the seventeenth century. Early published fantasy was written by and for any gender. Frankenstein (1818), by Mary Shelley, has been called the first science fiction novel.

But there were relatively few women speculative fiction authors in the early 20th century. In 1948, 10–15% of science fiction writers were female. That’s changed over time; in 1999, women comprised 36% of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's professional members. The percentage of women authors among finalists in the fiction categories for the Hugo Award have ranged from as low as 0% in 1960 to as high as 79% in 2021 (with variation in that percentage over time).

As for fandom: Women have been active in science fiction fandom for a number of decades.