(the real one and only) Sid.

Hugh, you ARE a regular! I love your breakdown of the sales experience and what's required versus what we get. All too true. Perhaps the problem is many salesfolk don't understand that the job is more than the paycheck alone. They know how to shmooze, but do they understand to whom they are shmoozing? It's what I said about the female salesperson who couldn't adjust your pacing – you have to meet your customers' needs, especially in communication. That's why I contend not everyone can be a successful writer. Writers don't just spill words onto a page. They capture their clients' and their clients' audiences' voices.

Sid, married people enjoy talking to single people, too. 😉 I suspect what you're driving at is the notion that women, once married and sometimes after, segregate themselves by their subject matter or their communication style. I've heard the term "hen party" used once too often (and the last person to use it, a female, was immediately sorry she'd brought it up with me). I for one need the mix of male/female opinions and presences. It's just a much better conversation.

Katharine, I'm with you on the sheer number of women in freelancing, but I've got a ton of male counterparts without whom I'd think the industry would be sorely lacking. And the low pay? Yea, we women often accept it. Part of the blame does have to rest on our shoulders.

Devon, I need only look to my last job. I was paid about $15K less than the dolt in the next office who wrote his first feature five years into his tenure. I'd had about 40 under my belt in the year and a half I was there. In fact, that whole office reeked of discrimination. Girls were paid much less than boys. The one writer colleague, who'd been there a few years longer than I had, made a paltry $25K. She left after she found out the male admin was paid $28K to start.

As a customer, I've been on what I guess could be described as both sides of the experience (white car salesman assuming it would be OK to share a few racist comments with me cuz I'm a white guy, too — it wasn't OK; suit saleswoman addressing all comments to my fiance because as a heterosexual male I must be incapable of making fashion decisions about the clothes *I* am buying & *I* will be wearing). Every time, I've been disappointed by (a) the personal shortcomings of the "professional" in question and (b) the failure of these people & their supervisors to grasp the concept that when you punch in in the morning, you cease being "just a person" & become the public face & voice of your organization.

Flawed personal philosophy + poor business acumen = Fail.

I realize we have a long way to go toward achieving anything resembling a racial/ethnic/gender/etc. harmony in this nation (seen a tea party or a townhall meeting on the news recently?), but on a purely professional level there is *no* excuse for a sales person or customer service rep to not understand that wimmin-folk can buy computers, understand the car-buying process & pick up the check at dinner — & that big ol' strappin' guys occasionally do dishes, shop for their own clothes or even (gasp!) cook a meal.

[Climbs down from soapbox, mops brow, takes deep, cleansing breaths.]

TOPIC #2 (Male commenters — or lack thereof — @ Words on the Page). I'm rarely confident that I completely understand the inner workings of my own mind, so I'm not about to attempt to speak for every man with an Internet connection & an interest in writing-related blogs. But I attribute my relative lack of commenting to the fact that on most days I feel as though Lori & the "regulars" have a much firmer grasp on the day's topic than I do, & express themselves much more clearly & intelligently than I could hope to. So, in lieu of offering an "exactly!" or a "me, too!" I just read, bask in the collected knowledge, & consider myself better for the experience.

Then I go do the dishes & hope my fiance can figure out what's wrong with the car when she gets home from work 🙂

Once, I was turned down for a job because I wouldn't lower my rate. As an experiment, a male friend took my resume, put his name on it, submitted it, and he was offered the job at the rate I originally quoted.

Kinda funny, kinda not.

First of all, lack of male commenters — I have found the same thing, not only in blog comments, but in colleagues in general. I think more women take the leap to freelance full-time. It probably has to do with society putting a lot of pressure on men to be the breadwinners, combined with the general idea that freelancers can't earn a good living. We all know that's not true, but people who haven't tried it often perceive it that way, and I think that probably scares a lot of men off because they have society's expectations to try to fill.

Now that's not to say men aren't writers. But honestly, if you're not doing it full-time it really changes how you function in the industry. If you have a full-time job and write on the side, you've got less time for writing, and therefore you want to spend what time you've got ON writing — not marketing, blogging, etc. Again, we all know how important marketing is, but the people I know who write on the side (mostly men, in my experience) very seldom view it as a business.

Now, as for the gender thing — I'm surprised no one has mentioned the obvious here, and commented on how often we see it in our own line of work. We've all seen those ads that say, "This would be a great job for a stay-at-home mom," suggesting that it's somehow easy or trying to justify the low pay. Honestly, I suspect that a lot of our problems with low writing rates actually have to do with the fact that we are women, and women's industries are notoriously underpaid.

2 words:

You're married

(OK kinda 3 words, but I see the contraction as the glue that holds together a great marriage between 2 happy words; so I treat them as one. Not so unlike Lori and Husband Widmer want to be treated? No?)

Alas my pessimistic outlook on men and the Internet has reared it's ugly head.

I've decided not to lay claim to this comment after all.

As sometimes (not) IMHO.

Sid.

Really neat observation, Wendy! I won't say that gender bias is always the root of all interactions, but it's interesting when it does come into play. Can we help ourselves? Weren't we raised with the same stereotypes we're now trying to disspell? Volumes have been written on it.

Paula, in my isolated experience at one particular publication group, yes, men are paid more. That goes all the way from management right through to the freelancers. I won't say it's common practice in the industry. To the contrary, I think if it were, we'd be well aware of it and raising holy hell.

Hey. I grew up in a family where the guys do the dishes. When my brother and sister-in-law redesigned their kitchen, the designer (a woman) was asking my s-i-l about the sink. S-i-l said, "Whatever he wants. He'll be using it more than I will."

But in the workplace, I haven't encountered any noticeable biases – then again, I have no idea if male writers are being paid the same as I am or not.