Making Room for Men at BlogHer

Environment: Blogging extravaganza BlogHer 2006.

Caveats: I counted heads at the closing keynote on Saturday, which may or may not be representative of overall conference attendance. (Approximately half of the attendees were present at the closing keynote, based on a reported total attendance of ~700.)

Count:
Women: 313
Men: 38

Women at BlogHer 2006: 88.92%

What's interesting about this number is that it provides the exact reverse of what's typical at most tech conferences, which currently hover at approximately 89% men. And over the last two days in an 89% female environment, I had no awareness of the presence of men....which implies that when tech conferences are 89% men, the presence of women also goes unnoticed in the social fabric. How much will it take for things to feel more balanced? My wild guess, based on absolutely zero data, is about 25-30%. Why? My class at business school was about 26% female, and though it was evident we were a minority, we had a visible presence and a role in informing the overall school social dynamic.

Comments

[Jeneane Sessum]

First, Christine, thank you SO MUCH for your great blogging from the conference. I wonder, when you saw a man you did you do a quick 'i wonder whose husband he is?' Or did you assume the guys were bloggers? All very fascinating. Thanks again for sharing all of this!

[Baris Karadogan]

Christine,
Great blog and nice posts from the conference. Sounds like one I should have attended.

[Kathy Sierra]

"And over the last two days in an 89% female environment, I had no awareness of the presence of men....which implies that when tech conferences are 89% men, the presence of women also goes unnoticed in the social fabric."

I'm not sure that's a perfect comparison though (but your numbers seem pretty dead on), because BlogHer was specifically *about* being female, where the heavily-skewed tech conferences are about the technology and not a "where the men are" show. But I do have to say that I've never felt unnoticed at a tech conference.

I gave a keynote last week at one of the geekiest conferences on the planet, and according to those in attendance, I got the same treatement on the IRC backchannel as the rest of the keynoters (all male that night). I got the same amount of praise and slamming as the rest of 'em--nobody cuts me any slack or criticizes me simply because I'm female in these environments (and I attend many different geek/tech conferences each year).

Again, I don't think it's quite a fair comparison to make about how men are seen (or not seen) at BlogHer, unless there were a BlogHim show. The geek conferences may be extremely male-skewed, but they're not there to be "males in technology", so it really is a different orientation.

That said, after having attended SXSW where there were so many more women (and so much more color), it's very clear to me how much value diversity brings into these events.

And, that said, I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing you at Foo Camp!
-Kathy

[H.A. Page]

THanks for your timely and thorough coverage of information from BlogHer's conference. I was unable to attend and appreciate what you've done.

Cheers.

[Marc Canter]

I was there and participated in a couple of sessions. But I was told after - by several women - that my style and attitude was too brazen and intimidating, therefor forcing all the women to shut up.

So I certainly didn't want that to happen,so I spent the rest of the time - either keeping quiet or baby sitting/hanging out with my daughters.

But my wife had a GREAT time.

[Christine Herron]

There were certainly a few husbands attending, but I try not to assume. ;) I've been taken for a spouse at too many professional events myself!

I talked about the vibe of the social dynamic with several attendees on Sunday, and the question of do-we-not-notice-men-because-it's-nominally-about-women did come up. Interestingly, gender was NOT (repeat, not) an overarching topic in the sessions that I attended. Strategies for building web traffic, tagging, commuity architectures, politics, disaster relief...gender didn't really play. Even the session on managing identity was predominantly on race and sexuality, rather than gender.

My impression overall was not that a man as an individual would go unnoticed at BlogHer - like Kathy, I don't feel unnoticed as an individual at tech conferences - but rather that the social dynamic was wholly informed by women, and that we were comfortable within the norm of participants being women. (And though Marc has a certain -uh- style, I think that he wasn't the only man who felt uncomfortable speaking up amidst the sea of women.)

I believe that when the numbers are reversed at tech conferences, these factors are all in play. I don't think that most people can help being more comfortable with and accepting of the familiar, and diversity does play a role in everyone's voice being taken seriously. The more familiar men are with women in a tech environment, the more focus and credibility will be directed to the essence of what's being said, instead of who is saying it.

[Holly Ross]

Hey Christine - the NTC is usually close to 40% women. We work especially hard to make sure that women play a prominent role as speakers exaclt because we want to make sure that women are perceived by all as the knowledgable, astute players in this field that they are. My first NTC was about 15% women. THAT was a tough one.

[Christine Herron]

NTC is a TOTAL outlier in tech conference data. (Sad, but true.) You guys have done a great job, and NetSquared is close behind you. If general tech mirrored the gender ratios of nonprofit tech, the gender challenges would be greatly diminished, if not erased.

NTC gender data: http://www.christine.net/2006/03/where_the_girls.html
NetSquared gender data: http://www.christine.net/2006/05/the_women_come_.html
Typical tech gender data: http://www.christine.net/2006/03/women_at_oreill.html

[Dave Winer]

Hi Christine. I was there for the whole conference, and pledged to myself to just observe and not speak, but I did actually speak in one of the sessions.

This conference was different in that gender was part of the charter of the conference, it was right there in its name, and all the people on stage, by design, were women.

Other conferences that have a flipped-around gender ratio, often have women on stage, and their comments aren't off-topic, as ours often were at BlogHer. (For example, when they were asking for stories about how we started blogging, I felt that if I had offered a story that would have forced a discussion that wasn't wanted, so I didn't offer.)

So there are probably other reasons why you didn't experience the presence of men, because we had reasons for just observing and not participating. But one thing in common is that when you're part of such a small minority it's intimidating, the fear of being rejected is very real, it's easier just to listen and say nothing. And certainly safer.

That said, I still enjoyed the conference, and I've been listening more at conferences these days anyway, talking less.

[Jeff Atwood]

> [Marc Canter] my style and attitude was too brazen and intimidating, therefor forcing all the women to shut up.

Marc's style is too brazen and intimidating for HUMAN BEINGS OF ALL GENDERS.

Marc, try to remember that the next time you're standing up in the middle of a giant MIX06 dining hall screaming "who took my bagel?" That's just one unpleasant Marc Canter episode I had among many at MIX06.

I can't even remember the last time I felt such intense physical dislike-- borderline hatred-- of someone I had never even met. Marc Canter does that to you. It's quite a talent..

[Christine Herron]

Hey, let's keep it civil and issue-focused! No personal flaming, please. :P

[hollyster]

Christine, I knew you looked familiar and I realized it's because I saw you at MashupCamp where the breakdown was 20% female 80% male, definately a different feel.