Where Are The Female Personal Finance Bloggers?

by Silicon Valley Blogger on September 15, 2007

Women and money

I would like to share with you this interesting fact I picked up from Henry @ Binary Dollar. There was an online survey from July 30 to August 1 taken by 1,000 adults and conducted by Synovate/Marketing Daily that suggests that there are more women bloggers than men.

The survey also revealed that more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14 % of men.

Say what? This was news to me.

I’m not quite sure how much of this that I’d buy, since that’s not the impression I’ve had all the time I’ve been reading blogs and maintaining one. But then I realized that I blog in a “male dominated” part of the blogosphere, where the subjects of personal finance, money, debt and especially stocks, investments, business and even high finance are talked about with the gusto of a political blogger letting loose on their next rant. But more and more, new blogs are popping up that are authored by women, even in the financial blogosphere, and this I am pretty excited about :) . It’s just nice to have a balance of perspectives, topics and styles out there fueling a very nice diversity in our realm of money.

On this note, Don’t Mess With Taxes and Nina from Queer Cents opened up some discussion on female bloggers in the PF blogosphere and wondered out loud about the representation of women in some recent pf blog lists. Though it’s true that we are disproportionately represented in this part of the blogoshpere, if you look closely, there are a few more lurking women in there than you may first notice. ;) . Of course, writing anonymously and in a gender neutral tone — just ask this tool — doesn’t help to clarify one’s gender either. [And to add to the confusion, any writing analysis tool I've played with has pegged my writing style as male.] Nevertheless, I’ve noticed that newer pf sites have a lot of female writers behind them (as I carefully check under each blog’s hood), so it may not be too long before we see more females in a new top 100 list!

Here are only some of the PF blogs I actively follow that are by women:
Blogging Away Debt, My Open Wallet, Boston Gal’s Open Wallet, Frugal For Life, QueerCents, Don’t Mess With Taxes, No Limits Ladies, Frugal Duchess, MapGirl’s Fiscal Challenge, Grad Money Matters, Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials, Young And Broke, Paid Twice, Plonkee Money, Chief Family Officer, Money and Values, Tired But Happy, Millionaire Mommy Next Door, Blunt Money

This just barely scratches the surface of the female pf blogging circle. I know for a fact that there are many wonderful finance-based blogs out there that are run by the ladies. If you’d like to contribute to this conversation, drop us a comment!

 
Image Credit: Cody Commerce

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{ 4 trackbacks }

AllFinancialMatters » Blog Archive » JLP’s Weekly Roundup (Week of September 10, 2007)
September 16, 2007 at 8:28 pm
The Blogger’s MardiGras | languagedump.com
November 8, 2007 at 3:03 am
Why aren't there more top female personal finance bloggers? - Wise Bread Forums
August 5, 2008 at 2:40 am
Women Bloggers of Personal Finance at Wise Bread
August 6, 2008 at 10:25 am

{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Brian September 15, 2007 at 7:11 pm

If you don’t mind, here are a couple of other female personal finance bloggers:

Ana at http://www.debtfree-revolution.com/

Lynnae at http://www.beingfrugal.net/

Great list! I think I subscribe to about 2/3 of them.

2 Dreamy1 September 15, 2007 at 7:17 pm

I’m a female blogger. I actually follow almost all of the blogs in your female list. :)

3 Kay September 15, 2007 at 7:51 pm

Thanks for keeping this conversation alive and for digging deeper. And mea culpa for overlooking you in my list. Just goes to show that we are out there and we’re not going away … until we’re able to afford the lifestyle we deserve and want!

4 Lulu September 15, 2007 at 8:25 pm

Hey there. I am a female PF Blogger so I would like you to check out my site too. Maybe I will be on your list to follow someday soon.

5 Silicon Valley Blogger September 15, 2007 at 9:14 pm

Thanks everyone! Yes, I may not have had the opportunity to come across other cool female pf blogs. And there are quite a good number out there I am aware of whom I would like to know a lot better! I’d love to keep tabs on all the female run sites… then maybe in time we can all band together and take over the pf world… *evil chuckle* ;)

6 Annie September 16, 2007 at 2:18 am

Yup, sign me up to the “Female PF Blogger” brigade :-) If you want to narrow down the stats even more, I’m still looking for UK-based pf blogs – not many of us around at ALL!

7 plonkee September 16, 2007 at 6:20 am

I’m here for the female pf blog revolution, where do I sign up.

8 Chief Family Officer September 16, 2007 at 6:25 am

SVB, count me in on your take-over plan ;)

9 The Digerati Life September 16, 2007 at 7:56 am

Annie, you know that Plonkee is from the UK right? Oh and don’t worry, I got your names down here so I know whom to reach when I hatch the evil plan… ;)

10 mapgirl September 16, 2007 at 1:28 pm

Dimes to Dollars, Escape Brooklyn, One Big Mortar Board, English Major Money, Money and Values, Experiments in Finance, Ms. MiniDucky, Cal Girl Finance (who has revived), Debt Hater, Dimple’s Divine Domain, Savvy Saver, Udandi, Well-Heeled, Beachgirl, Kira at Penny Foolish, and I think, MoneyMonk are all women. I am lazy about my blogroll, but I visit all of these blogs.

Thank you for being a regular reader. I have the warm fuzzies now. I have to say I really like your blog partly because your gender isn’t always readily apparent in how you write or the topics about which you write. That’s actually a good thing because I stay focused on your content.

Keep up the great work!

11 mapgirl September 16, 2007 at 1:30 pm

And SF Money Musings, who is a guest blogger of mine. How could I forget? *smacks forehead*

12 Meg September 16, 2007 at 1:39 pm

Cheers to all the other female PF bloggers out there! I love following the stories of and sharing ideas with other like-minded ladies.

I think one reason male bloggers dominate the rankings might be that they are more likely to blog as a business-meaning they are more likely to aggressively market and monetize their blogs. We females (myself currently included) are often content to blog for personal reasons and to ignore stats like traffic, blog rank, and ad income.

Also, in my limted blogging experiece, female bloggers more often chronicle their personal journeys; topics generally include saving strategies, frugality, and eliminating debt. Males blog more often about investing strategies, the stock market, portfolio analysis, etc. Just an observation.

13 The Baglady September 16, 2007 at 2:05 pm

Guys are also posting more “how you can be rich” type articles that attract people from all different places. I think female pf bloggers also don’t throw out as many charts and figures as the guys. I like that female bloggers write more personal stuff too.

14 Silicon Valley Blogger September 16, 2007 at 2:30 pm

Thanks for listing some female pf blogger sites on here because I wasn’t as familiar with some of them. :) What I have observed as well was that topics tend to fall along gender lines. So maybe it was erroneous for me to say that pf blogging is “male-dominated” because it is only so much this way depending on what topics you talk about. The top frugal blogs are IMO female :) .

I agree with Meg about why rankings and readership may be skewed towards males — the audience for business and investment is still mostly male so you’d attract this readership by focusing on such topics.

15 Mrs. Micah September 16, 2007 at 4:16 pm

Hmm. I’m a pf blogger and I think you’re right. I follow a lot of the blogs on your list already, so in my reader it seems balanced. The guys’ blogs definitely have more comments on average, though.

16 calgirlfinance September 16, 2007 at 7:07 pm

Thanks for the mention Mapgirl. I’m having a hard time getting my blog re-going, so it’s great to see that someone out there is reading it.

I agree with Meg’s comment. The focus on men & women’s blogs in the personal finance sphere often differ. I typically enjoy blogs written by women more than men. :)

17 Stephanie September 16, 2007 at 9:56 pm

I guess I’m another female blogger to add to the list. I’m still working on changing over to a different site, but I have started discussing personal finance…

18 Annie September 16, 2007 at 11:55 pm

Thanks! Plonkee was one that I hadn’t previously discovered – she’s now added to my GoogleReader feed :-D

What a great resource this post is…

(Oh no! Now I sound like one of those “Great Post! Visit my site!” comments… sorry!)

19 Silicon Valley Blogger September 17, 2007 at 12:08 am

Annie, that’s great :) . I’m glad this post has been helpful and has added to some awareness of female-maintained pf sites. If you’d like to drop us a line here if you are a female pf/money blogger, please do so. I may just have to create a new blogroll page for you guys. :)

20 Madame X September 17, 2007 at 6:32 am

And don’t forget my NYC homegirls Frugal Zeitgeist and Millionaire Artist.
I’ve considered starting a separate blogroll just highlighting female PF bloggers– though there are many PF topics that are gender-neutral, and many male bloggers whose blogs I really enjoy, I also find that the female perspective on personal finance is often more interesting to me, just because we can identify with each other more easily, I guess!
It may sound stereotypical and overgeneralizing but it seems that male bloggers often spend more time on the hard numbers nuts and bolts of finance, such as interest rates and portfolio allocations, whereas women seem to write more about how money actually relates to living one’s life!

21 Moneymonk September 17, 2007 at 8:06 am

checking in as a female blogger

22 Barbara Stanny September 17, 2007 at 3:40 pm

You know what I think? Fewer female bloggers is symptomatic of a broader issue. We women are not talk nearly enough about money.

I’m with all of you in wanting to change that. I’ve been writing books about the subject for a decade, and I’ve just started blogging.

I’d love you all to come visit my site: http://www.barbarastanny.worpress.com.

Your feedback is welcomed.

Barbara Stanny, author
http://www.barbarastanny.com

23 Melissa September 18, 2007 at 7:52 am

I’m also a female PF Blogger. I write the majority of the articles on my website and my husband contributes when he can. It’s primarily from a woman’s point of view. Great list and I hope to be on it someday! Thanks!

24 Barbara Stanny September 18, 2007 at 2:42 pm

ooops! I wrote the wrong URL in my post. The correct address for my blog is:

http://barbarastanny.wordpress.com

Hope you come visit me there…

Barbara Stanny, author
http://www.barbarastanny.com

25 One Frugal Girl September 18, 2007 at 2:51 pm

You can add me to the list too. I read a good mix of blogs by male and female bloggers. I think both genders offer an interesting mix of topics and discussion points from different points of view. However, I have found very few female bloggers out there with a high net worth. Of course, not all bloggers discuss their finances at this level but overall I have noticed far more men in this category than women.

26 No More Spending September 18, 2007 at 10:42 pm

I’m a female blogger, however I wouldn’t dare to put myself in such good company.
I’m a living example of an intelligent woman (sorry not bragging) who for some reason can manage a budget, which requires me achieve two million pounds pure profit for her company every year, and yet is in debt through years of over spending!
I have however wised up. Start Late, Finish Rich!

27 m September 23, 2007 at 2:45 pm

I currently write my pf posts on my personal blog but am thinking of moving them onto their own separate blog that is dedicated solely to personal finance issues.

Till then my pf posts can be found here. I am calling it my personal finance “miniblog” (blog within a blog) until I get a chance to move the posts onto their own site.

*In case my link didn’t work, the address is: http://cottoncandypink.blogspot.com/search/label/Personal%20Finance%20and%20Frugality%20%22MiniBlog%22
or just go to my blog at http://cottoncandypink.blogspot.com and click on the personal finance label in the sidebar.

28 msminiducky September 25, 2007 at 10:04 am

Thanks for the mention, Mapgirl, and I’d like to add MoneyDummmy’s a great lady blogger as well!

29 Kris December 1, 2007 at 11:45 am

Checking in as another female Personal Finance blogger with an emphasis on investments and wealth accumulation

30 Madison December 1, 2007 at 4:03 pm

Reporting for duty!

31 Orange August 28, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Hi there,

I loved the article, and yes I am a considerably new female finance blogger. Almost 10 months of blogging.

Check me at http://orange4money.blogspot.com/

Love your blog,

Orange

32 annakat August 30, 2008 at 12:51 pm

There are plenty of us females out here blogging away. I think its funny for you to think the subjects of personal finance, money, debt and especially stocks, investments, business and even high finance are “male dominated” part of the blogosphere. Generally when I blog in that arena I just use a generic name.

33 Silicon Valley Blogger August 30, 2008 at 12:57 pm

@Annakat,

This question was raised in the Wise Bread blog recently. You can read about this matter at the WB blog and forums, as I’ve discussed here. I’d love to learn more about the women out there writing about these subjects. Usually, women will prefer to talk about money-saving topics and frugality-oriented matters. I know a handful who tackle other financial topics (small business, taxes, investments) but would love to network with more women bloggers for sure! :)

34 Jill March 1, 2009 at 8:03 am

When it comes to investments, the study says women are advised to place their money in high risk assets to maximize long term gain, but that of course also carries an equally high risk they’ll have nothing at all in the future.

35 MoneyEnergy April 14, 2009 at 2:33 pm

I’m a female personal finance blogger….. and I’m not a stay at home mom and I don’t blog about shopping or coupons… maybe the focus on the economy and investment analysis gets me pegged as “male” by some readers – it’s happened:)

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