December 1st, 2005
Women still under-represented in the Irish bloggersphere
A couple of weeks back Damien Mulley posted a link to a story on Google’s blog news channel about the most powerful women in the bloggersphere. Damien’s laconic response was spot on: “We need more women in the blogosphere and more non techies.”
In the comments section of the news story, there were two links. One to Damien’s piece, another from a guy pointing out that “Joi Ito is a guy” and I wondered if Michele ever encounters assumptions about his name, but mostly, I couldn’t decide what was more depressing; the fact that the list had garnered little or no response or that Joi Ito himself - who is indeed a guy and was delighted to be included while owning up to his masculinity - was included on the list. Was it really that hard to find 10 influential female bloggers?
It then occurred to me that most of the recent additions to my blogroll, have been blogs by women. The blogs I link to are not about reciprochal traffic, they are the blogs that I read every day, my daily stops to gauge opinion on what’s happening in the Irish bloggersphere. The newest additions include Fiona DeLondras’ excellent political/issues blog Mental Meanderings and Fence’s main blog at Pretty Cunning which is part of a triplicate of blogs including a book review blog at Susan Hated Literature and film reviews at Moving Pictures. I’ve also added Beth Bond’s feminist blog Broccoli For Breakfast, realitycheck(dot)ie’s topical thoughts and the well-written observations at Ainelivia.
Looking at my blogroll, there are 38 links and a sizeable chunk (16) of those are to blogs by women. Notwithstanding the new additions, some of my favourite bloggers are female. Karina’s literary musings at Bookish are a daily stop, as are Mish’s book, music and general meanderings at Penguin’s Rock. The The Marvellous Garden is an inspiration for the lazy writer in me, Red Mum’s always readable blog proves it’s no wonder she has recently become a columnist with the Echo. I enjoy the all-kinds-of-everything style of Trixibell and Janine, Treasa’s Francophile angle at Winds and Breezes and Thinking Out Loud’s photos and life lessons.
This isn’t a gender question about the nature of who blogs about what topics, it’s more of a general call to hear from more women who blog. I’m definitely not suggesting we need a blog button for ‘Irish women bloggers’ or that Damien should include a “best female blog” in Irish Blog Awards, but I still feel women are seriously under-represented in the Irish bloggersphere. In recent weeks, I’ve done the hard sell on three different female friends who have all expressed an interested in blogging. All have different motivations and ideas of what they would like to say but I’m determined to get them expressing themselves via a blog.
One of my first blog stops of the day - and one of the best Irish blogs - is always Sluggerotoole. Even on slugger, where there are 17 listed contributors, only one is obviously female (there may be more than one but some of the monikers are genderless). Another regular stop is Disillusioned Lefty. The weekly interviews with bloggers are really compelling, but perhaps the list of interviewees is in itself an indicator of the lack of women blogging (only one interview out of ten is with a women - Dervala who also has a great blog). Maybe the Disillusioned Lefties would consider interviewing Caoimhe?. Not only is she one of the first Irish women to start blogging, her post-grad studies on the subject would surely yield some enlightening answers.
I’d really like to hear from new female bloggers, potential ones or established blogs by Irish women I just haven’t come across yet.
December 1st, 2005 at 2:31 pm
WTF! I didn’t even realise Joi was in the list. Jesus.
I’m hoping to interview more female bloggers in my next set if interviews btw
December 1st, 2005 at 8:18 pm
God is there seventeen. I agree with Damien’s sentiments. I’ve been trying to encourage women to blog on Slugger, and indeed we have two of them, Green Bencher’s a woman.
Encouragingly we have seen more commenters use female names in the comment zones and it’s getting to be less of an issue for them.
I know some women who prefer to use a gender neutral name just so the men online don’t treat them differently in any given article.
One other thing. I think in general terms the women who do blog, generally punch above their weight. ONe of the best NI blogs is The Broom. It’s good because its not afraid to throw heavy punches.
December 1st, 2005 at 8:47 pm
Thanks for all the great links. I was going to clean my house (even, oh my God, DUST)
but now I think I’ll just have to go check out all these wonderful woman bloggers instead.
December 1st, 2005 at 8:49 pm
p.s. Thanks for including me in post on Irish women bloggers. My nana from Co. Limerick would be so proud.
December 1st, 2005 at 10:03 pm
Yea I agree with you Sinead (thanks for the mention) but I think the tech/non-tech; politics/non-politics labels are divisive and becoming a dominant discourse. Unless we get away from needing to box and label what people choose to write about (ie boy and girl stuff) then it’s no wonder that women appear invisible right now. The “scene” is competitive and speaking for myself I find it tedious in the extreme. It seems to me that many blogging conversations are about carving out territory i.e. are we journalists or not? are we being taken “seriously” by the mainstream media or not - why on earth does blogging have to form an identity that’s in relation to what’s already out there..
I could go on and on about this one…I feel a rant coming upon me!
December 2nd, 2005 at 12:33 am
I really don’t like feminism and even the mention of getting more women to do something tends to make me itchy and uncomfortable.
While, women are in the minority in the Irish blogosphere, their absence is not something I notice.
That said, I really wonder, what if any difference women bloggers make? I’ve posted a short post to my blog about this - http://www.realitycheckdotie.blogspot.com
Chris at alt-tag is another Irish woman blogger- http://alt-tag.blogspot.com/
December 2nd, 2005 at 12:34 am
Girls are smelly.
December 2nd, 2005 at 2:12 am
Do sassy gay men count?
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:31 am
There’s too many of them already Joe.
December 2nd, 2005 at 11:06 am
Update: Beth of Broccoli For Breakfast has posted a very rigorous response to Aud’s thread at realitycheckdotie.
I think some of the comments here prove there is a disparity in the profile of female-helmed blogs. It’s interesting that That Girl uses the word ‘invisible’ while Auds doesn’t notice the ‘absence’ at all.
Mick: Slugger is a fantastic resource and a great site. I’d love to see more women contributor’s blogging under the slugger banner.
Auds: Thanks for the comments, I’ve already replied at your blog. I feel that women DO make a contribution to blogging - not because they’re women, but because of the great content availalbe on some blogs that happen to be BY women.
That Girl: All very relevant points that also pique me. I hate the gender issue with blogging topics. I don’t care what women choose to blog about - just as long as more of them start blogging.
Patry: You’re welcome. I do believe that yours is one of the best creative writing blogs out there. I find it very encouraging and it helps me kick myself in the ass and start scribbling.
Twenty: That may be true, but I think I’m quite fragrant. And don’t you smell of stale fags anyway?
Joe & Damien: Of course they count.
Damien: I look forward to those interviews.
December 2nd, 2005 at 3:09 pm
I wondered back in the late summer when I started getting semi-serious about blogging (whatever that means!) about the absence of women bloggers in Ireland. I have for several years read the blogs of women, and seen blogs used by women to be able to discuss issues of concern to them. I am very concious when I blog that I am one of a few women blogging and I don’t think there is anything wrong with being aware of this at all. I don’t care what the blogs are about either but I do think that we should encourage more women to write. We read women journalists and authors, womens writing, women’s thought processes, and womens concerns do differ. And it should be celebrated and not glossed over. We are different and should be able to be different if we want to be cos it could be very boring otherwise!
December 2nd, 2005 at 7:02 pm
To be honest, I don’t think of myself as a woman blogger. If I have - *have* - to put a label on what I’m doing, it’d be “lit-blogging”.
Hmm.. but it is an interesting idea. I might email you privately later this weekend.
By the way, did you ever get to ask Neil Gaiman anything?
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:12 pm
thanks for the mention sinead (and for putting me in the “dana” category of irish blogs
)
i think it’s sad that there are not more female bloggers. as blogs become more mainstream, i hope this will change.
women may be put off by the techy/geeky image of blogging. setting up a blog is so easy so it is much more about communicating and women love that!
i think that the irish blog scene is not doing too badly. there are not too many female bloggers around but there are several very strong examples including this very blog!
sisters are doing it for themselves 
i’ll stop now before i go off on a feminist rant… i’ll save that for my own blog and lose any readers all in one go
December 3rd, 2005 at 12:16 pm
Just for clarification,
Caoimhe’s investigation into Irish blogs formed part of her undergrad thesis….for her post grad she’s sold her soul to the business school, although her weblog thesis supervisor keeps trying to persuade her to do a four year stint as a very poor PhD student: studying weblogs for four years! I think I’d go mad..
I totally agree with That Girl on the divisive box ticking thats going on. I don’t tend to comment on it but I read it carefully. I mentioned in my thesis that I believe the Irish blogosphere (sorry to those who hate the title) will develop much the same way as the original blog community. Beginning small and then sectioning off into groups with the same approach. same views, same blog topics..ect… I think that would be a shame as the variety of different voices, opinions and thoughts are what make blogging and reading blogs so enjoyable and rewarding for me. I remember one of the bloggers that I interviewed, someone you’d know yourself Sinead ;o), mentioning that he anticipated a sramble for ‘ownership’ of the community. Groups who would attempt to define who belonged and who lead the community. I believe his prediction isn’t too far off…
December 3rd, 2005 at 3:00 pm
I rarely pay attention to the gender of whatever blog I’m reading, but if I think about it now I’d say that my blogroll is fairly evenly balanced between men and women, not sure how that works out on the breakdown of Irish blogs.
December 4th, 2005 at 4:13 am
Well done to Fiona for her clear-sighted post on the subject.
I posted my ruminations about this topic yesterday, and another entry today in relation to Aud’s second post. It’s great to see a lively debate about this on Irish blogs.
December 4th, 2005 at 6:35 pm
As long as it doesn’t interfere with the tea-making process, I’m all for more female bloggers…
December 5th, 2005 at 1:03 am
I have no idea what gender balance my blogroll is. other then obvious ones like gavins blog or dervala (where ther are first names) i really don’t know most gender. A blog is a blog is a blog. if it a good read i read it if not i wouldn’t.
There seems to be a desire for the blog sphere to be something organic and changing that I don’t get.
December 5th, 2005 at 4:26 am
I’ve posted in reply to the responses to my “i’m not a feminist” post!
http://realitycheckdotie.blogspot.com/2005/12/to-continue-feminism-debate.html
December 5th, 2005 at 11:51 am
Many thanks for the mention and the link Sinead. And also the links to other Bloggers-Irish and Female. Your piece and the comments are very interesting and after I put all the laundry from my recent holiday in the washing-machine (I’ve been Blogless for 17 days now) I’m re reading this at leisure.
Feminism for me was important because it educated and empowered a generation or maybe two or three generations of women, and that was necessary. Female, male, I go with Jung’s notion of the feminine and masculine in all of us.
For me the Irish blogging scene is very vibrant, and the topics discussed usually grab me more than some of the non-Irish blogs I’ve encountered. However, I did notice at the beginning that the main Irish blogs do seem to be very combative; I found that unnecessary, though stimulating.
If Caoimhe’s prediction re territorial-ity occurs that will be a pity.
December 6th, 2005 at 9:39 pm
Hi Sigla, What about little ol’ me?
I’ve been blogging away for a few years and made the crossover to mainstream by writing for the Sunday Times (when the editor Fiona McHugh read my blog and liked it). A lot of my readers are men and they seem to enjoy reading about a woman’s perspective.
December 7th, 2005 at 1:37 pm
Suzy - couldn’t agree with you more. The point of this post initially was to encourage women to start blogging, not to get in to a gender debate, but I’ve been really interested in the cross-blog debates that have ensued.
Karie - Well, I had to come up with all the questions for Neil and if you like, you can listen to the interview here:
Janine - I think you’ve hit on one very important aspect of this debate. The technical side. Many people (not just women) I’ve spoken to feel the techie side of blogging would be too complicated, despite me and my techie ineptitude disproving this point.
Caoimhe - apologies for the post-grad mix-up. Four years of studying blogs? Don’t do it! I think regardless of whether the ownership thing becomes an issue, the evolution of Irish blogging and it’s sub-groups is going to be very interesting to watch over the next couple of years.
Fence - I think mine is almost 50-50 too.
Maura - Thanks for that insightful post, it’s a very valid contribution to the debate - and belated congrats on your first in the screen-writing MA.
United Irelander: Watch it mister…
Simon - as mentioned in the line above, I also think if a blogs worth reading, the author’s gender shouldn’t come in to it.
Auds - Thanks for taking the time to post a number of times on the topic, I know you took a bit of a hammering, but you are still entitled to your opinon, even if it’s not shared by some women bloggers.
Aineliva - You’re welcome for the link, you have a wonderfully observant blog. The kind of blogs that interest me - and it’s a purely personal thing - are ones that combine topics. Whether it’s political and topical issues, creativity and the arts or just personal perspectives on things. Most of the blogs I link to are a combination of this.
Sarah - I had honestly never come across your blog until last week, but I’ve had a good look around and it’s excellent. I’ve added you to the links here.
December 7th, 2005 at 9:38 pm
I have to say that — well, first, I have a lot of reading to catch up on (8 windows currently open for this discussion alone!) and second, I tend to wonder about the whole thing about needing more women bloggers and like others have said, about stuffing people into boy/girl categorys (more women, non techy? One of the first Irish blogs I started to read was a very techy one by a woman, so go figure). Don’t people generally read webpages that interest them? I suppose if you have an interest in women you would seek out women, but by god, isn’t that a broad topic to be interested in, where would you start? Er, sorry about the pun. As others have noted, if the writing is good, people will read it. But at the same time, the web is just people, so patterns outside the computer replicate inside it, boys knock about with boys, girls with girls, some cross over depending on subject, gosh I am thinking way more about this than I intended.
Anyway, I do think there’s a lot of women blogging, perhaps it is just that we are blogging, and not flying the flag, not blogrrls or whatever hip phrase will emerge. But if you look for it, as you can see from this thread, there is already a world of Irish women bloggers who are plugging away. Do we have to be blogging about feminism or stereotypically ‘women’s issues’ to be categorized? But the upshot of that is, if you are blogging about your kids, or your pregnancy, or other distinctly feminine subjects, it doesn’t seem to count in the navel gazing ‘blogosphere’, although that sort of stuff quite merrily trundles along in its own subculture, not needing that attention to do what it is.
I mean for example, look at knitting blogs. Talk about daunting! There’s loads of them! But do they rate on any of the blogowhatevers? Not usually, cause they are women writing about a stereotypically womanish hobby.
In other words, how do you determine influence? How do you herd cats?
And thank you, Mick, for the very nice mention! Heavy punches indeed, more like an irresistable attraction of the foot to the mouth!!! /blush
December 8th, 2005 at 1:50 pm
Most of the women I know don’t even know what a blog is. It’s just not pervaded our culture in the way it has in other countries. Maybe with time (and if we can kick Eircom up the backside and get them to unbundle the lines so there’s some actual competition and proper coverage) we’ll see a change in the profile of Irish bloggers.
December 9th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
Hi Sinead, thank you for the link! I’ve been watching this debate unfold and have been generally amused by it! For me you were one of the first people I came across in relation to blogging and discussion boards etc initially on Bibliofemme. I was really impressed with that site because it was female orientated. Here on Sigla I felt secure in making comments as it was a safe environment and from there I got into blogging. I admit that initially I found the combative approach taken by some guys a bit off putting. Now that I have come to terms with the environment I don’t really pay attention to the bloggers sex I just enjoy a good read, but saying that my blog roll is dominated by female bloggers! My point is that if I hadn’t learned how to blog and use my voice on this site I don’t think I would have ventured into this arena. So you can take partial credit for this female bloggers inane ramblings!
December 10th, 2005 at 1:08 pm
Interesting topic, which I came across via Pretty Cunning. I think there’s a lot of female bloggers out there already - as mentioned previously, all those knitting blogs and other “Mummy” blogs about children, baking, etc. There’s hundreds of them!
I had a look at the general blogs I read regularly and about half of them are by females - so there seems to be a trend here for 50/50!