Women News & Articles

When Angela @webchick Byron started writing a talk about women in open source for Open Web Vancouver 2009, she found the topic silly. In fact, she planned not to talk about that at all. There was no shortage of women. Instead, she would focus on recruiting people to projects.

Then she looked for data to support her theory. Except, she was in for a wee surprise.

Blogs have come along way. We know this because women say so.

According to the 2009 Women in Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners, women are nearly twice as likely to use blogs than social networking sites as a source of information (64%), advice and recommendations (43%) and opinion-sharing (55%). It's not that they don't use social networking sites, it's just that they use for conventional means, like keeping in touch with friends and family.

Where women go, advertising follows. The web is no exception.

As we’ve mentioned before, women appear to outnumber men online, with many writing, reading or otherwise contributing to blogs. And advertisers are finally getting hip to their jive.

ComScore results, as highlighted in a recent New York Times article, indicated that advertisers served up “4.4 billion display ads on women’s Web sites in May” and that women’s sites had recorded 84 million visitors in July 2008.

About a year ago, CMSWire reported on the number of women resigning from information technology jobs in the UK. A new report now indicates that women in IT in the US are declining as well.

In 2006, women made up only 26.7 percent of computer and mathematical positions according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The downward trend has been found across all IT jobs categories with only 16 percent of all network and computer systems administrator positions being held by women in 2006, dropping from 23.4 percent in 2000.

The other day, colleagues and I made a list of of things that sound bad but aren’t — such as Jawbreakers and Chunky Monkey. But now I’ve started making a list of things that sound good but aren’t. Topping the list are sites catered toward women.

Don’t get me wrong, women rock. And what makes us so visibly cool is that we have diverse interests, moods and yes, emotions. But that doesn’t mean we can’t handle weeding through the Internet to find what we seek, whether it be the weather, a great pair of shoes or gasp! —news.

However, Yahoo! begs to differ. They think that the gentler sex are easily distracted by all the choices available to us on the magical Web that we need a one-stop shop offering content from women’s magazines and blogs with a “distinctive voice” .

Why else would they launch Shine?

As a woman working in the field of e-communications and technology, I am always giddy when surveys highlight the growing presence of women on the Web.

Back in July, we learned how women are contributing to and advancing the collaborative Web. And we’re always spreading the word about geeky girl stuff. Now, a recent report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicates that adolescent girls are finding their groove online as well.

Ahh…to be a mom in today’s world of Internet dominance. To have big networks clamoring for your attention, night and day, anxiously waiting to tell you celebrities’ views on childrearing, must satisfy every mother’s daily needs.

If only the ‘net actually changed the diapers.

It’s hard to be a competent, successful woman these days. It seems that you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Of course I speak to two articles published in the past few days highlighting the posh double-edge swords with which we, the “gentler” sex, are accessorizing.

A recent study by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, authors of Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, indicates that “female executives at the VP and C-levels have a considerably better career presence online than male executives at the same level.”

Good news, right? Well … sort of.

It’s time to set the stage for a tech conference that’s just for women. She’s Geeky is an “(un)conference” for that one coding chick among many man geeks.

Make your appearance from October 22-23, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

Men may be from Mars and women from Venus, but we’re all equals in the workplace, right? Recent data regarding women in the IT industry seem to say otherwise.

According to the UK’s National Management Salary Survey, garnered by the Chartered Management Institute and Remuneration Economics, the number of women resigning from information technology jobs in the UK has increased over the last year.

That’s not the only thing out of proportion. The pay gap between men and women has also widened.

Summer certainly seems to be the time for revelations. First the Washington Post embraced Web 2.0, and now print magazines have figured out that women are going online in droves to shop, read, communicate and collaborate.

Gasp! Horror! When will it end?

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