The Passion of Women Bloggers

"I write because I have something to say. I blog because I have to say it."

It is amazing that in less than a year, we have listed over 300 women bloggers on the W Magical List of Women Bloggers wiki. It has been so empowering for me to have fabulous conversations with other women who blog on everything from being a mom, to running a business, to dealing with difficult life issues. Yet, this is only a fraction of the female blogging talent in the blogosphere. Women bloggers are still an unrecognized entity.

One of my dearest of friends, Kathy Russell, knowing my own passion for blogging, emailed me an article from today's New York Times entitled, “Blogging’s Glass Ceiling.” The article talks about the disparity between men and women bloggers. On the heels of the recent BlogHer conference in San Francisco, the article quotes the Pew Internet and American Life Project that among Internet users, 14 percent of men and 11 percent of women blog. A study conducted by BlogHer and Compass Partners last year found that 36 million women participate in the blogosphere each week, and 15 million of them have their own blogs.

As the Assistant Organizer of the New York Bloggers Meetup Group, of the 250 plus members, there is a definite mix of guys and gals; and the Organizer and I are both female. Why the disparity? From my own humble observation, unless blogging has some monetary value attached to it, there is no real incentive to do it more than as a hobby. Life happens and the blogs fall by the wayside. For women, life is more urgent than posting the latest news on a blog.

Two of the loveliest ladies of the blogosphere are my Facebook buddies, Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff, known as the Blog Squad. These ladies revolutionized blogging for me and taught me so much that brought such a deep passion for the genre. Not to mention, they are two rockin’ gals! Now I eat, sleep and dream of blogs. And yes, I do have a life! I post about it regularly.

No doubt there will be more to talk about on this topic. Would love to hear what you think about this. And if you are a woman who blogs and have not yet contributed your blog to the wiki, please pop on over and register to list your blog.

Here's to blogging with a purpose!

Coach Carolyn