Could it be that the blogosphere is a perfect reflection of our offline gender-centered world and that women are more reluctant than men to take a stand in the public sphere and be vocal about opinions? Statistics are ambivalent about the issue, and research seems to say yes…and no.
The Pew Internet & American Life project Center recently reported (pdf link) that in September 2005, 25 percent of women were reading blogs, compared to 29 percent of men (11 % of men had already created one, while only 9 % of women had). The survey also reports gender-based differences in terms of usage: men seem to consume information online more aggressively than women, their approach to consulting news can differ greatly:
“Sometimes, men and women look for different kinds of information. After the events of September 11, men visited more websites to tell them about things that were happening; more women said the internet helped them find people they needed to reach.”
Sticking to this analysis, we might start running on a dangerous stereotypes-filled playground, where men always know more about technology than women and therefore blog more. As for political blogs? Same remark: men systematically outnumber women in the professional political field, so it shouldn’t be surprising in theory that an important majority of political bloggers are men. But is it so simple?
Various commentators have tried to explain this phenomenon in the past few months. The Guardian's Ros Taylor says the misogynist comments often encountered in forums or blogs might “well be having a detrimental effect on would-be female commentators” who find themselves relegated to a simple role of ‘lurker’ rather than participant for fear of being the recipient of sexist insults and nasty words which so often arise in heated political debates. Catherine Bennett seems to agree: the political blogosphere sometimes feels like a merciless arena.
Taylor’s article does give some examples of solid, exemplary political blogs written by women. As brilliant as they all are, they’re nevertheless all written by professionals – MPs, journalists, councillors, writers; one wonders where the good political blogs - written by women not making money out of politics for a living- are.
For the Independent’s columnist Mary Dejevsky, the problem has deeper roots. In ‘There’s a good reason why women don’t write blogs’ she explains that women are often tied to two jobs (housework and a career) don’t have time for themselves, and are affected by ‘this old fashioned and persistent division of responsibilities’.
Nevertheless, there are hundreds of them waiting to be read, even if the most prominent ones seem to be right wing: from Fox News’ Michelle Malkin (warning: blog content may contain bad faith and news manipulation…) to the pitiless and aggressive tone of American conservatives Moxie and Wonkette. Liberal women: time to ‘get your blog on’?
Jessica Reed.
