Gender and the Social Web: New Tools, Same...Stuff?

Tuesday, May 30, 2006, 4:15

Speakers:

Catherine Geanuracos, Chief Technical Officer, MomsRising.org (http://www.momsrising.org/)

Christine Herron, Director, Omidyar Network (http://www.omidyar.net/)

Fran Maier, Executive Director and President, TRUSTe (http://www.truste.org/)

Lisa Stone, Cofounder, BlogHer (http://www.blogher.org/)

Immoderator:

Susan Mernit, Senior Fellow, The Media Center (http://www.mediacenter.org/)

Note taker:

Willow Cook

This session discussed how technology can help organizations express their visions, as well as how men and women are using various platforms. Below are some of the points and insights raised during the conversation on gender and the social Web.

1. Networking

Mernit recalled a recent Stanford Business School reunion, where she noticed that while the women were catching up, the men were networking. "Women must network, promote, and hire other women," she said. "Social networking tools are creating new rules, [unburdening] women from the social and networking rules of the past. However, social networking tools are just that -- tools."

Geanuracos noted, "Blogging, podcasting, IM, telephony tools, and social networking tools give people an unprecedented platform [to network]. Women are using these tools in different ways."

2. Participation

Herron said that at most technology conferences, women make up only about 10 percent of the attendees, and therefore miss out on the dialogue. "Gender has not been a big discussion in identity," she noted, adding that without equal representation, the field of technology loses a lot of the richness.

Yet, most social networking tools are predominantly used by women, Stone pointed out. "The Pew Research Center used the word "voracious" to describe women's use of technology," she said, adding that when she worked at Women.com, the message boards received way more traffic than the columnists.

3. Communication

Geanuracos noted that while women need the time and incentive to adapt new social networking technology tools, their communication skills make them ideal candidates to drive the development of them. "Let women drive the development of the social networking component," she said.

"The reason that women are good at communicating online is that we are good listeners," Stone added. "That is the secret to recruiting and working with women online. Women will engage if you ask them what they think."

4. Inverting the Paradigm

"Allow as much bottom-up communication as possible. Social networking tools should be as useful as possible for individuals and groups," Geanuracos said.

Stone said she advises nonprofits to "adopt a more conversational way to run an organization, allowing the best ideas to bubble up to the top. This will help your organization reach the women you'd like to serve."

"The way to subvert the dominant heirarchy is to give up control," said Stone. "Create a 'duocracy' track, a room of your own. [At the BlogHer Conference], an entire session is handed over to a women who pitched it online. [Listening is] essential to avoiding the queen-bee, bottom-down dynamic that keeps women off the op-ed pages."

5. Volunteerism

Herron pointed out that women also are more likely to volunteer online (or, at least, to identify themselves as volunteers), adding that this reflects offline trends as well. "While volunteerism is easier to map online, the same distinctions take place offline."

Added Geanuracos, "Women are often times not motivated by their own advantage; people will use LinkedIn for other people before they use it for themselves."

6. Presentation

Appearance counts, said one audience member. "A lot of what attracts a male versus a female audience is presentation," she said, adding that when women are left out of the design phase, it can affect how a site or service is received by the end user.

7. Technology as a Catalyst for Change

"Sexism is alive on the Internet because it's alive in real life," said one attendee. "How can women use technology to say, "This is what we want gender relations to be"? How do we learn how to ask that we want to learn about technology?"

Another audience member added, "Very few women participate in the discussion [and planning] process. We need to encourage women to embrace what they believe in and elevate that, and discourage them from apologizing for what they don't know."

"Be outcomes driven," said Stone. "Constantly evaluate every aspect of what you're doing. Know your goal and make sure you're moving towards it."

Mernit added, "Be present, push back, be part of the design. And raise your sons well."