Women in IM

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There’s been a bit of discussion around the traps about women in IM (internet marketing) of late. The general gist of it is that some people feel that there is a bit of discrimination going on by the big guys when forming alliances and joint ventures. If you’re interested you can read some of the background here and here at Lynn Terry’s Clicknewz.

I’m very new to the world of IM, but from what I’ve seen so far it doesn’t seem to be a whole lot different to other male dominated industries. I know about male dominated industries because I spent most of my working life in them. I was even the recipient of a scholarship to encourage women into a male dominated field (affirmative action, you know). The fact is, I get a little bit annoyed when I hear women going on about how they are overlooked for opportunities in favour of men.

Perhaps it’s because (or despite) I’ve spent so long in male dominated (I hate that term – is there another one I can use?) industries but I have honestly never experienced discrimination based on my gender. Or perhaps because I just don’t get office politics it floats over my head without me noticing.

My general observations of IM in respect to gender are:

There are more men doing it so there are going to be more guys popping up on the radar than women.
The men seem to be more aggressive in their marketing tactics than women which again leads to greater visibility.
The majority of promotional alliances, joint ventures and what have you are between men. The guys are actively forming very visible networks (see point above).

IMHO there is no great conspiracy here to exclude women, any more than there is in any other industry. It’s a matter of numbers, and the fact that guys tend to do business differently to women. They network differently, they make friends differently. That’s not to say we can’t join together, it just means we each need to take those differences into account – accept and get over them or find a way around them – and get on with it.

My experiences in other industries have been:

If I show that I am capable, I will be given the job
Guys will accept and welcome women without a blink (well, perhaps a chauvinist joke or two just for good measure), provided the women do not have a chip on their shoulder. Chips can cause reactions from even more poor taste jokes to wariness to exclusion.
As a woman, some people will be surprised to learn what you do simply because there aren’t that many women doing it (as was Lynn’s case). It’s not that they don’t think you can do it, they just haven’t come across many women in that particular industry.
If you let it, gender discrimination will become an issue. I have seen on occasion that it can become a self fulfilling prophecy. (That is not to lessen the seriousness of legitimate gender discrimination.)

Of course there are still some boys’ clubs and old school guys around, but I believe they are becoming fewer and fewer. Much discrimination is based on generational beliefs that aren’t going to change in a hurry. And of course there was this in The Age today!

On the whole though, my experiences have led me to the belief that women who do the job as well as men, market themselves as well as men and take opportunities as well as men (and vice versa) will get a similar outcome. The paths may not be the same but there will be equal rewards there for both. I have no reason to believe that IM would be any different.

Agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts?