Not unlike other political bloggers (McKenna & Pole, 2008), the women in this study are well — educated and concentrated in occupations that emphasize writing, namely academia and journal­ism. More than half of the respondents interviewed in this study earned a master’s or higher degree, compared to less than half of average political bloggers (McKenna […]

Women overwhelmingly expressed challenges to blogging. A majority of respondents asserted that sexism in the blogosphere was rampant. Interviewees repeatedly remarked that nasty comments were commonplace. Invectives suchas “shut-up you dumb-bitch” and “cunt” were echoed throughout the interviews. In the com­ment section of one woman’s blog the following appeared: “I bet you’re a fat ugly […]

Snapshot of Women Political Bloggers and Their Blogs Overall, the 20 women interviewed for this study are well-educated, middle-aged and occupation­ally varied. Illustrated in Figure 1, the data show that 35 percent of women (7 out of 20) possess a bachelor’s degree, and 60 percent of interview­ees (12 out of 20) hold a degree equivalent […]

This paper examines the role of women political bloggers, the unit of analysis. It is primarily explor­atory and descriptive. The overarching research questions ask: what is unique to women political bloggers; how do women political bloggers use their blogs to participate in politics; and how do they encourage their readers to participate? To a lesser […]

Political blogs have transformed the political land­scape in the United States. Early on bloggers were credited with unseating Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (Shactman, 2002), and more recently, 2008 presidential candidates used their blogs to advertise and mobilize volunteers (Pole, 2010). Efforts to mobilize individuals, raise awareness, encourage readers to contact elected officials, vote, and […]

Another body of literature emphasizing women bloggers also informs this research (Herring, 2003; Herring et al., 2004; Herring & Paolillo, 2006; Kennedy et al., 2005; Pedersen & Macafee, 2007). While studies explore the role of gender more broadly, few accounts document the role of women political bloggers. Moreover, these accounts tend, more often than not, […]

A growing body of work examines the rise of political bloggers, detailing how bloggers use this medium to participate in politics both online and/ or in-person, and how bloggers use their blogs to mobilize readers. While a broad literature frames the research on blogging more generally, focus­ing on politics and participation this study draws upon […]

Women Bloggers, Politics, andPolitical Participation Antoinette Pole Montclair State University, USA ABSTRACT This study examines the role of women political bloggers and how they use their blogs for purposes related to politics, public policy, and current events. Based on a combined purposive-snowball sample, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 women political bloggers in October 2006. […]

By highlighting the challenges faced by women in male dominated business sectors, this chapter fills an important lacuna in the current literature on women and entrepreneurship. Research on gender in entrepreneurship has been focused on two-group comparisons of sex differences, but has paid little difference to within-category differences. The tendency of previous work to treat […]

Virtual or computer mediated networking allows users to contact and develop ties with individuals via Internet methods, including, but not limited to Web pages, email, chat rooms and online com­munities. There already exist many women’s organizations with specialized websites geared towards supporting entrepreneurs and profes­sionals. Two prominent examples are Working Women’s Network and Women’s Forum. […]