Who Writes about Southwest Archaeology? Gendered Authorship and Publication Trends

Studies of gender and authorship in archaeology have been widespread in recent decades, all showing that women persistently publish less often than their peers. Targeted analyses of authorship trends within various specialties, either regional or methodological, suggest some offer more welcoming environments for women than others. In this paper, we expand the coverage of archaeological specialties to consider authorship in Southwest archaeology. Specifically, we assess the gender of authors of over 3000 publications on the topic. Analyses of these data show roughly two-thirds of the authors between 1935 and 2024 were men. While there has been notable improvement through time, women’s voices remain underrepresented in Southwest archaeology overall. We conclude with a consideration of where Southwest archaeology falls within the broader discipline in terms of gender representation and publication today and suggestions for how we may create a more inclusive and diverse discipline.