Where Are the Women Bloggers?
Now I know that we have a fantastic group of female bloggers in this Emerging Women community. Just click on our community page if you are looking to find some insightful, witty, and challenging blogs to read. That said, there still exists a gender-gap in the blogging world. There just are significantly fewer theological blogs written by women than men. And the ones that are out there seemingly don’t get the respect or the readership as those written by men.
Patrick McCullough recently sent us an email addressing that very issue. He writes –
“I don’t know if any women from your group follow the conversations in academic biblical studies blogs (“biblioblogs”), but we currently have one that may be of interest to you. I wonder if you might be willing to help us out.
At present, the closest thing to an “official” tally of academic biblical studies blogs is done by the Biblioblog Top 50–which puts the ratio of male to female bibliobloggers at 270 to 20. Women make up roughly 7 percent of those who blog about academic biblical studies. We have had a few conversations about this over the years but have come to no firm conclusions about why this is the case or how we should solve it.
Some explanations attempt to reason through gender preferences (women don’t like to sit in front of a computer, men are more narcissistic, etc.). But these preferences (stereotypes?) seem to relate to blogging in general and not the vast discrepancy in biblical studies specifically. I suggested that there may be a perceived risk to blogging which professionally academic women do not want to take. The person behind the Biblioblog Top 50 believes there is a “deeper, structural religious bias towards male authority.” April DeConick (perhaps the strongest, most reliable biblioblogger who happens to be a woman) believes that there is a sexism embedded within the network of biblical studies blogs, which marginalizes the blogs of women as unimportant (post one, two, three). Have a glance at this person’s post to see a timeline and links to some of the conversation happening.
I wonder if you could pose the question to your community of intelligent female bloggers, many of whom are quite well-informed about theological/spiritual/biblical matters. Why do you think there aren’t more women blogging about academic biblical studies? If you have some knowledge about biblical studies, but are not a “biblioblogger,” why not? “
Tags: biblioblogs, gender gap, Patrick McCullough, women bloggers
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:54 pm
[...] Gender Gap Issue Jump to Comments Hoping to get some outside-the-box consideration, I have enlisted the assistance of Emerging Women for our conversation regarding the number of female bibliobloggers. If you are not familiar with [...]
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I have a blog and an MA in Exegetical Theology (aka studying the Bible in Greek and Hebrew). Originally my blog was going to be biblio-ish or at least about theology, but I got self-conscious and I didn’t get into a PhD program like I expected and now the things I blog about are very rarely about theology. I didn’t directing my blog vision very well and got caught up in the crafty parts of my life. And I don’t feel like I have the weight of an institution behind me to give my voice credibility. Maybe if I had started it when I was still getting my degree things would have been different. Maybe if I refocus things will be. But I really miss the voices of women in the biblioblogosphere. It makes me grateful for Emerging Women.
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Have you heard of the very active blog ring and community RevGalBlogPals? http://revgalblogpals.blogspot.com/ Many are pastors, but I also think a number are academics. The RevGalBlogPals main website serves as a hub for many women bloggers (as well as some men). I blogged frequently as a doctoral student, and was a member of RGBP then. But once I joined the faculty of a seminary, I simply didn’t have time to blog anymore.
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
“Why do you think there aren’t more women blogging about academic biblical studies?”
Because too often they’re not taken as seriously as a man who blogged on the same topic would be taken. And not only by men – I’ve seen women have the same reaction.
September 3rd, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I wonder, what is the percentage of women academics in biblical studies compared to men in that field? I’m sure it’s larger than 7%, but, once you factor in all the conservative institutions out that that actively or implicitly discourage women from going into this field, it might not be that much larger. That alone could be a big part of the reason there aren’t many women bibliobloggers, if it is in fact reflecting a disproportion in the field itself.
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
to answer mike from my experience, when I was a student at TEDS and I was in a bible class, I would be one of maybe 4 women in a class of 60-75. If I were in another kind of class, there were significantly more women, although many of the women were spouse-auditors. The women didn’t take the bible classes, and I kind of get why. The men were pretty rough to be around in those classes, and we women got a LOT of questions regarding what we planned on doing with our degrees. And a lot of attitude if we answered something to like of biblical or pastoral work. It was not easy to say the least, and certainly discouraging.
And I’m sure it depends on the seminary. I was at TEDS in the Wayne Grudem era, and it has changed a lot since then from what I hear. Thankfully. But it was a tough road. Not the coursework so much, but rather sitting in context of the classroom.
As discouraging as that was, it’s not why my blog is void of thoughtful biblical work. I have 2 little kids and 2 jobs. And my husband is a pastor. If I want to write a thoughtful blog that involves good exegetical work, it’s going to take me a while. And I’m not going to publish bad biblical work. I may write and publish a blog on some political thing or social issue while my children yell during rest time or late at night when I’m tired (and The Daily Show sparks something
, but I won’t do that with biblical work. It’s too important. So, I’m kind of on hold a few years until I have that kind of time again. And I can’t tell you how much I look forward to being back in that world.
As for your other ladies, let’s have it! I can still read while my children go nuts!
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
I think the definition of “theology blogging…academic biblical blogging” is too narrowly defined and thus many, not just women but probably a disproportionate amount of women get missed. I feel like my blog is deeply theological it’s just not traditionally written. I write about my real life encounters through the lens of my faith. I work in social services as a professional counselor and I believe my work is deeply theological and missional so when I write about how my faith and work intersect I believe it has deep theological impact…at least it does on me. But I would never be classified as a theological/academic blogger even though I received my masters in counseling from a seminary and took the same theology classes as the M.Div students…and got all A’s if I might add
I see “definitions” as one of the biggest barriers to women breaking the glass ceiling of leadership in the church. People lead in different ways yet we are stuck in a rut with one style of leadership CEO…slowly it’s changing but often when one thinks leader/educator/theologian we are limited by one or maybe two flavors. We need to learn the Bible truths from a variety of angles…exegesis, sociology, psychology, grass roots, academic, application etc. I think when people are looking for “thinkers” in theology they get stuck on exegesis and academic and thus miss a lot of good writers and theologians out there.
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Yeah.. wow. I totally blogged on a similar theme to this recently.
http://rubyleigh.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-this-and-brains-too.html
I guess I am not the only one making such observations
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 pm
[...] points to my previous post where I am reaching out to the Emerging Women community (see the great comments coming in over there). He highlights something I have said, italicizing it in this way: “I’m not certain that [...]
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 pm
This is an interesting observation and one that doesn’t surprise me. I think Tina Lips is getting to one of the root issues. Maybe women aren’t as interested in writing straight academic theology, because you can only think about faith so much before experience of faith and theology at work becomes necessary. Many in the women’s movement make a sweeping division between the “rational” male and the “mystical” female (a stereotype and a generalization)–maybe as women bloggers the “rational” exegetical work just isn’t as interesting. I know I’d rather hear the story of someone’s theology at work, than read their carefully studied out interpretation of something.
September 4th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Where are the little girls and young women who have been encouraged to pursue theological education so they can later blog about it? Oh, that’s right, we still have a ratio of 270 to 20 of church leaders who don’t encourage girls/ women into the field.
September 4th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Good question. I’ve heard more than one male in the evangelical milieu ask this question (i.e. “Where are the women?”), and frankly, I am surprised that they don’t already know the answer.
1. As Robyn notes, women have not always been welcome in Evangelical academia, as either students or as faculty.
2. Even more pertinent is the issue of stewardship: If women are unlikely to get a paying job in church leadership or Evangelical/Conservative Christian academia, what is the point in investing in such an education?
As a result, evangelical/conservative Christian women are either going to give up on formal academic training or they will go to a mainline seminary/grad school. The training that they will get at these mainline schools will be very different than that at an evangelical/conservative school.
As such, the conversations that often take place on “serious” evangelical/conservative blogs may not be something these mainline-trained women are prepared to enter into. And after all the foolishness they have endured from Evangelicals, they may not want to!
There is another factor as well: There are some male evangelical bloggers who question whether it is even appropriate for a woman to enter into such a conversation. Some question whether women should be studying theology/Bible at all, while others might allow for women studying these subjects, but would not permit them to publicly “teach” men what they have learned. While these men may be in the minority, they can be awfully noisy about it.
Which brings up the question: Why would women want to spend their time engaging men who don’t think that they (the women) have a right to do so?
September 4th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
[...] Listening to Women’s Voices Jump to Comments There seem to be two directions of thought for those who have been discussing this issue: (1) Why don’t more women want to join the biblioblogging community? and (2) There are probably more women out there that could be considered bibliobloggers (particularly if we allow for an expanded definition of biblioblogging) and we should find them. Many people are annoyed by the discussion and, if that describes you, you probably are no longer reading this. In any case, this particular post is an attempt to answer the first question–not by myself, but by some of the female bloggers outside our biblioblogging community. These are the initial responses coming in at the Emerging Women blog. [...]
September 5th, 2009 at 6:52 am
I blog a lot but find it frustrating at times. I think few women blog because they are questioned about their belief in the bible. In blogging I have often been questioned not about what I say or about my point of view but on whether or not I believe the bible as God’s word. I find that some believe that women who are leaders and pastors and biblical academics somehow do not believe the bible. It is a way of discounting voices that should be at the table.
Sometimes I find myself not commenting because I think my real thoughts might provoke harrassment from fellow bloggers.
So I am careful and will stick my neck out only when I feel it is highly important.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:28 am
To add my thoughts in -
I fully agree with what others have said that much of this is based on the fact that there are just fewer women who are trained academically in this field. There are still churches that tell women they can’t really study the bible. I think Mark Driscoll even recently help publish a book called Practical Theology for Women – as if we need a dumbed down different theology than men. I’ve been part of churches that had biblical studies sunday school that only men were allowed to attend – I got the fill in the blank Beth Moore or Kay Arthur studies and was told that counted as “bible study.”
At the same time, I also agree that women are just more prove to not compartmentalize life on our blogs. All of life is theological. So sometimes we discuss the bible, or history, or ethics, or cooking, or parenting, or politics, or justice – all because these things are important in our experience of lived faith. If the bible doesn’t impact how we live, then it holds less power.
But then I would add the practical stuff. Time. Women, whether we teach in a university, run a church, or work retail, most of the time also are the ones who take care of the home, cook meals, and manage the kids. That is thankfully beginning to change as more men step up, but it is still practical reality for most of us. It’s just harder to find the time to blog. Men too who have well respected highly read blogs can often take time too blog at work – as in it is part of their ministry. They have the stats to prove the wide audience they are reaching with their words. Women don’t have that luxury – or at least don’t feel that they do.
And then there’s the generic sexist stuff. Some men will critically engage other men they disagree with, but often they write of the woman as just being stupid or employing “poor scholarship” (which means the same thing). Its the “silly girl, you know you can’t play with the big boy, not get back to the kitchen” response I hear versions of WAY too often these days. Similarly, when a women tries to defend her views, she isn’t being academic or intelligent like men are, she’s called a bitch. No surprise then that it’s just not worth the effort to put oneself out there by blogging for many women.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Does McCullough’s list of Bibliobloggers include both mainline and evangelical blogs, or just evangelicals? If just the latter, I’m surprised its even as high as 7%, for all the reasons y’all have mentioned about how much discouragement there is for women to pursue academic biblical studies in the evangelical world.
On the other hand, in my limited experience in the mainline world, I’ve noticed there are many more women in biblical studies and theology. My NT prof at my PC(USA) seminary was an African American woman, and one of the best theology profs here is a women. (I don’t know if either one of them blog, but the theology prof does contribute regularly to the religion section of the Dallas newspaper.) Also, at least half my classmates or more are women, and many of them (especially the younger ones) have expressed an interest in going on to further academic study in bible or theology.
September 6th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Could it be because women have for a long time been excluded from seminaries and academic biblical studies, pastoral programs, etc.?
Even now there are still some institutions that don’t allow women in their pastoral programs. So it’s not surprising that there is an imbalance of women entering the discussion of academic biblical studies when they haven’t been given the opportunity to participate.
September 7th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I hope that this will change over the next ten years. It would be of enormous value to have the older (or women already established in their field) to step forward and mentor those aspiring to be established in the fields of the pastorate and theol. academe (and also the biblioblogosphere). Then, it would matter a lot less what the naysayers said. Unfortunately, those who make it do not avail themselves to the younger generation. I commend those who do, but I have yet to see them.
September 9th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Fascinating question. Maybe it’s because so many of us spend our academic years justifying our existence or fending off sexist commentaries on our writing. I’m in my 50s, in seminary and about to graduate, and grow extremely tired of the kerfuffle.
Truthfully, I also don’t have the time to do the research and writing necessary to really do what I consider to be excellent work. I have a paper to edit and finish and submit for publication and it is sitting beside a mountain of assignments and projects.
I believe we have “a place at the table” for these discussions. I’d love to get there.
Deb
September 9th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I would imagine the ratio of male/female bloggers re: Biblical Studies would correspond to the ratio of male/female students enrolled in Biblical Studies courses in Christian Universities. Increase that, and you increase the number of potential bloggers.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:57 am
[...] that are updated most) tend to be theological rather than personal blogs. Which begs the question, Where are all the women bloggers? Here are the rules: – Choose one ingredient from her recipe and post a recipe using this ingredient [...]
September 11th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
To respond to Mike: Just to clarify, it’s not my list. I’m just pointing to it. It is maintained by the people at Biblioblog Top 50. But it is all-inclusive–there is no confessional requirement for the list. There are several who are not Christian.
September 13th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read…
-Bill-Bartmann
September 13th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I would consider myself a “lurker” on most of the blogs that I read. I graduated from a Christian university and also took some seminary classes, and would consider myself an educated woman. But what I tend to see on these blogs is a competition to prove a point vs. a desire to learn, and like others have said, sometimes its just not worth the emotional risk of putting it out there. If something is “off” academically, you can feel like you’ve been crucified. If its just posted so one can brag about their knowledge, it is in vain. So, from my point of view, maybe one of the reasons the women aren’t blogging is because the women understand the futility of blogging for blogging sake. Maybe I, too, am stereotyping, but I think women feel like if they are going to risk that, they want it to be for something.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:08 am
My perception is similar to Lisa’s. If I had time and inclination to blog in a consistent way, I would probably focus on praxis or inspiration/encouragement. There’s something about the “academic” approach that stirs up (within me at least) an unhealthy need to compete or defend. Though I believe I personally might not handle the academic approach well, I’d still love to see more women entering into those conversations. So maybe I’ll have to brave up, grow a little, and give it a try someday.
September 17th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Though not scholarly, my blog is a result of my frequent theological pondering. As women I think we engage our theology on a relational level more than an intellectual one. Meaning we prefer to express our theology through relationships, or use our theology for our relationships rather than merely add to the knowledge bank. But perhaps I am speaking only for myself….