Women should embrace the blogosphere

Lorie Byrd wrote in Townhall No discussion of women bloggers would be complete without some gross generalizations and politically incorrect observations -- both of which I plan to include here.

The first time I read one of the many posts that have been written on various blogs about a shortage of female political bloggers, my first thought was to ask, “What shortage?” Many of the bloggers I read daily, including Michelle Malkin, Betsy Newmark, La Shawn Barber and the Anchoress are women.

And I regularly read. and quote, all three. I had not been reading Lorie before, but now that I have a couple of blogs she blogs at that have trackbacks, I will probably be quoting her in the future (I usually don't quote a blogger that does not have Trackback, unless I can't find another blogger that makes the same point).

A look at blog rankings, however, shows the top spots are held primarily by men.

There are, no doubt, multiple factors that have contributed to the numbers being what they are for women bloggers, and more than a few male bloggers have attempted to provide explanations.

Kevin Drum once suggested the “geek” factor might contribute to the small number of female political bloggers.

Although its geeky Usenet roots were (and are) testosterone laden affairs, there are still no formal barriers to entry here, no old boys club in the usual meaning of the word. Yet if you take a look at the Blogosphere Ecosystem, which for all its faults is probably the closest thing we have to a consensus measure of popularity for political blogs, you will find exactly two women in the top 30: Michelle Malkin and La Shawn Barber.

John Hawkins at Right Wing News has written on this topic at least three times and has offered his explanation for a shortage of “A-List” female bloggers.

Women on the whole are less interested in politics than men, therefore less women create blogs, thus the female talent pool in the blogosphere is smaller than the male pool, which leads to the dearth of "A-List" female bloggers.

In other words, there aren't as many really successful female bloggers because percentage wise, there aren't as many women who are interested in doing political blogging. It's just that simple...

Whatever the reason for the small percentage of female political bloggers, I definitely do not buy the “Woe is me, I can’t succeed in the blogosphere because I am a woman” excuse. For those who do buy it, anonymity is an available option. A blogger’s gender can quite easily be kept a mystery.

This is definitely true. I maintain the News area for the Media Bloggers Association, and I once posted an item for a blogger that had been quoted in the press, and referred to as "he", when her own blog showed that she was a Marine's wife and an Air Force veteran

Like many southern women, instead of complaining that my gender is limiting me in any area, I choose to look at the ways my gender can be used to my advantage. While I don’t go as far as my mother, who once faked tears when pulled over for speeding, to avoid getting a ticket, I am tickled to death to accept any good will that may come my way as a result of being a woman.

Lorie Byrd blogged Check out my article at Townhall.com about women and the blogosphere. Of course, any woman reading Polipundit has already embraced the blogosphere in the best way possible.

Betsy Newmark blogged Lorie Byrd of Polipundit has an inaugural column today at Townhall explaining why women should not be afraid of blogging and should "embrace the blogosphere." She gives some examples of how a stay-at-home mom can find time for blogging that you might not think about. stay-at-home mom like Lorie, a middle-aged high school teacher such as myself ever have anyone other than our friends and family pay any attention to what we have to say? How would we have contact with people across the country to share ideas and discuss topics of interest? What a wonderful thing all this interconnectivity is. And I'm sure that there are other communities of bloggers interested in cats, children, sports, whatever who are finding blog-buddies across the country.

I also reject the idea that women aren't as likely to make good bloggers or to take to blogging. I find that I don't even register whether or not a blogger is a male or female. The blogosphere is close to being a meritocracy although there is a definite advantage for those who started earlier. People starting now might find it hard to break through, but that is true in any industry. However, I have found an incredible generosity among established bloggers to link to new bloggers, including myself, if a post is original and interesting. And gender doesn't enter into it at all.

TheAnchoress blogged Not only is she blogging at mulitple sites (she clearly can multi-task), but she’s moving beyond blogs and into the wide-read world of opinion-column readership, for the second time in as many months, this time with a guest column at Townhall.com where she is as lucid and forthright as ever. Her column is generously filled with female link-y goodness, btw. (Thanks, Lorie!) You’ll want to read it all!

La Shawn Barber blogged Blogger Lorie Byrd has written a great article for Townhall.com. Check it out.