Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Podcasting
Stirring the gender pot in podcasting
Wired News has stirred the gender pot by alleging, in the wake of this month's Portable Media and Podcasting Conference (PMPC), that podcasting has become a men's club. Reporter Steve Freiss' conclusion that "women warm the podcast bench" is based on some pretty flimsy facts:- Only 15% of the 2,000 attendees at PMPC were women. This doesn't mean that women aren't involved in or interested in podcasting. It's more likely that women are less attracted than men to techy conferences like this one. There was also a low turnout of women at Gnomedex this summer (where I was one of the 11% of attendees who were female). The very next month, hundreds of women bloggers enthusiastically attended the BlogHer Conference, proving that there are lots of women interested in and participating in blogging. I'd wager the same is true of podcasting.
- The president of Women in Technology International, which had a booth at PMPC, is a man. Said president inherited his role from his mother, who founded the organization. 'Nuff said.
- Podcaster Leo LaPorte said in a PMPC keynote that 97% of his audience is male. Leo LaPorte's podcast is This Week in Tech. It's reasonable to assume that it's the subject matter, rather than the fact that this is a podcast, that is failing to attract women to LaPorte's offering.
- Yahoo senior product manager
Joe Hayashi said 85 percent of folks who use the search engine's
recently released podcast directory are men.
It would be interesting to know how Yahoo made this determination. Regardless, Yahoo! Podcasts is still in Beta. So I would hesitate to rely on it as the definitive authority for measuring the podcast audience.
- "Several" of the most prominent women in podcasting either co-host programs with their husbands or
boyfriends or were thrust into the craft by their men.
For every female co-host, there are plenty of women with their own podcasts. Just take a look at this growing list of women podcasters or these blogs by women in podcasting.
Any women podcasters, or admirers of same, out there who'd like to comment?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
madisey said 5:35PM on 11-25-2005
I couldn't see Pottercast on that list. That's presented by a woman and has to be one of the most popular podcasts around.
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jeffehobbs said 6:41PM on 11-25-2005
Women should stay out of the podcasting booth, and get back in the kitchen, where they belong; I still can't believe we gave them the right to vote, as it's been all downhill since then. Additionally, I long for the elegance and austerity of steamboat travel.
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Benjamin Riordan said 8:10PM on 11-25-2005
The article also failed to mention Violet Blue's Open Source Sex podcast, which is one of the most popular podcasts in the iTMS. Her podcast is so popular that she was invited to the Apple campus for a tour (http://www.tinynibbles.com/blogarchives/2005/10/a_tour_of_apple.html) (not safe for work).
On the other hand, after I read the article I thought to myself, "And...?" What's new or terrible about this trend? How many women show up at Star Trek conventions? Podcasting is not some elite, high-paying job or anything-all you need to make your own podcast is some off-the-shelf software. Are there women who feel left out of the podcast craze? What's stopping them from joining in? Is publishing a podcast a trademark of success and prestige now?
As I look through my podcasts, I notice that while they are all hosted by men (men who also host their own radio shows), about half of the guests are women. On the other hand, these podcasts are news/entertainment/politics shows, so maybe they are not representational of the bigger picture.
Next headline: "Women less likely to drive while drunk, demand equal rights"
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Megan said 6:46AM on 11-26-2005
I listen to TWiT primarily, and some other podcasts, including The Chris Pirillo Show. I think that women are underestimated as techy, podcasts are fun!
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Zipingo Kim said 5:16PM on 11-26-2005
Sure, you can claim podcasting is a man's domain, but that won't stop us from podcasting. Women's visibility in podcasting is like their visibility in business. We're out here in small ventures that have yet to be noticed, but you can bet we're here. And claiming that most of us rely on males to "Remington Steele" our podcasting existence is a tired (and incorrect) assumption. Whenever I hear someone claim women can't or don't hack it in the world of technology, it's a Call to Action. Not that I needed any incentive to enjoy what I do anyway.
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Lee said 1:20PM on 11-27-2005
If you look at the top podcasts in iTunes that are hosted by women, they have sexual content. While I do agree that more and more women are podcasting (I'm one of them), I don't think it's empowering at all when the only female-led podcasts that are receiving any attention are those with adult content.
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Nicole Simon said 7:40PM on 11-27-2005
I am still collecting my thoughts about this topic, but in general, I agree with what you write - the basis for this article is quite flimsy.
But to be honest, I am a bit of a tech chick and therefore not unlikly to like this new technology and as I already had gotten over how my voice sounds, I had not to take that barrier.
Many female persons I hear about are afraid if others "will like what I say / like what I sound like". Not how I see it, but it is a fact, that these opinions exist.
On the other side it is about tech and many women do not want to be involved with tech - they think it to be ugly. I can relate to that if we talk about cooking - which I can not get my head around.
But for the future, when finally all those tools are easier, women will still not be as visible as men - in part because they do not like so much to expose themselves.
Which probably also has to do with the fact, that if we do such, it is mostly associated with prostituting ...
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DaveR said 10:56AM on 11-28-2005
It all started with that pesky "wheel" thing. It has been downhill ever since.
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Mur Lafferty said 3:39PM on 12-13-2005
I feel this article was written to simply stir things up or to declare true an assumption that the author had already decided. He didn't mention that the Podcast of the Year was won by a solo woman podcaster (Anne from EatFeed.com). It's as if he did no homework at all. I didn't go to the PME because it's too far to travel too close to the holidays.
I do know several women who are coming to PodcasterCon (podcastercon.org).
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