Disturbing! Where are all the women?
Last Update: September 19, 2010

I regularly check out the blog posts of all of the newbies here at WA and I try to welcome as many of them as possible because that is one of the things I really like when I first joined WA. Finally, it appeared that I had found a site where people actually interacted and wanted to make the time to help and get to know you.

But, what I find really disturbing is how few women seem to be joining!

An online business that is flexible and gives you the opportunity to work from home is the ideal business for women who are home executives or working part time. So, I'd love to hear from anyone who can tell me why there seem to be so few women taking the opportunity that WA and online business presents?

I've tried advertising campaigns to target women that are homebound for family or other reasons and that didn't seem to be terribly successful either. It could well have been that I was using the wrong keywords but still, I was sure that my campaigns were finding at least some women in the right demographic.

I'm genuinely curious about this so anyone who knows something I don't, please let me know.

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cld111 Premium
I can speak from experience that this business is HARD to work with small kids. But, I'm sure that all of us moms do this for our kids, and that allows us to keep going. I wish I could reach out to more moms and non-moms out there. I really feel passionate that this is a great business for almost anyone, especially women! There are no glass ceilings here. (Especially considering you can use a pen name, and no one will even know you're a woman...hehhe) You can write about what you love, and get paid for it! I do know that the technical aspects do hinder some people. I have a friend who isn't really into affiliate marketing because she doesn't know how to set everything up. (Though, she's very smart and I'm SURE she could figure it out easily.)
jatdebeaune Premium
Yeah, I agree with both comments. It's hard enough to focus in silence, far less when kids are doing kid things. Women are usually the ones tending to the children. I know several women who are techies and smart marketers, who would probably do very well in this business. When I mention it to them, they say, NO WAY! It takes a certain personality to be attracted to IM, let's face it. Why more men would be interested than women, I think the previous comments are right on.
dec944 Premium
I think there are many different reasons. A big one is the "type" of time required to do this. It requires a lot of quiet time researching, writing, analyzing, sorting. Stay at home women, particularly those with small children don't have a ton of "quiet" time. They can build a craft business because the kids can screech all day long. Or they can sew smocks to sell on line because the kids don't have to be quiet. This business also requires a full understanding of how to do it before you do it. The commitment upfront is the same whether you are full time or part time.

I suspect stay at homes just look at it as too much work for the return they are looking for.
advancing Carole Premium
Very sorry got your name wrong, Tans
Carole
advancing Carole Premium
Hi Tan,
This has not escaped my attention either! I think that some reasons could be that a. Women do not see themselves as IMs and do not really understand how they can use their existing skills and knowledge as an IM and b. As women tend to place greater importance on connecting with people and building rapport they overlook IM, believing it to be cold, isolated etc. c. They write themselves off before looking properly into the opportunity, thinking that it is only for 'Tecchies' and therefore for [mainly] men
So, easy way to get to them would be to push the great feeling of connection, community from WA and overcome those self-limiting beliefs that they have - just a suggestion - funnily enough I have just written a post for my website [not yet 'out there'] on this theme
cheers!
Carole
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