Despite being in the 21st Century, sexism is still rife, beautifully illustrated in this TWEET from @Whatleydude – This is ‘the new breed of marketer’ –
Whatley asked what was wrong with the picture, and I bluntly replied.
All Cocks, No Frocks.
I find sexism abhorrent, we are all equal, and it frustrates me immensely the injustice in the world where Men and Women are treated differently. According to some stats I’ve found, 19% of the Directors of the FTSE 100 Companies are Female, which is appalling. Whilst it is on the rise it’s still not good enough.
The place where Sexism is utterly flipped the other way is Parent Blogging. It’s all about the women. It’s true that Men do make up a relatively small proportion of the ‘Bloggersphere’. If I recall 8% of the parent bloggers registered on Tots 100 are Male. There aren’t even any Men in the Top 25 Blogs (from my quick skim), or any Dads shown in the main header images on the site itself! Obviously we ARE in the minority, but it’s such a shame that so many marketing people focus on the Mums – Dads are a small but powerful force.
I get so tired of Brands and Products actively excluding Dad Bloggers – there are so many different Hashtags or Twitter Accounts just for Mums – eg @Mums #Mums.
I must admit I lost my shit a little last night when I saw my Mummy Blogger Friends tweeting about being a #MarkWarnerMum – I fired off this slightly grumpy tweet. I was corrected by @TiredMummyofTwo that they were indeed looking for #MarkWarnerDads too (probably blown that!). But – as the ever wise @ChelseaMamma pointed out.
‘@ChelseaMamma: @TiredmummyofTwo @kiphakes maybe it should be #MarkWarnerFamily that way there is only one hashtag?’
Exactly that – why can’t Brands and Marketers use ‘Family’ instead of ‘Mums’ or ‘Dads’. It’s a brilliantly beautiful and simple change that encompasses EVERYONE.
It’s not all bad news, there are some brands that are giving both sexes a fair slice of the Pie – Kiddicare for example – they’ve got it right, they work well with both Mummy and Daddy Bloggers – Everyone is equal. Although their team of Bloggers is largely women, they look after us Dads! I’m desperately trying to do more with Brands and Products that are normally a Mum’s domain – strollers for example. I actually got told by a brand I wasn’t allowed to have one of their review units because I was male – I was the highest ranking Daddy Blogger according to their metrics, but they just wanted the Top 5 Mums to have it. Marvellous.
Even at events, I’m fed up of getting goody bags aimed towards Mums, fuck even if I were a Mum I’d be fed up with it – it’s all pink and twee, I’m not a 4 year old princess, and neither are the Mums!
Urgh, can’t we all just be Parent Bloggers, Family Bloggers, whatever? Screw the gender tags!
Well said. I’m so fed up of dads being overlooked like this. I thought I’d become desensitised to it, but I got a press release today calling me a “mummy blogger” and my blood boiled! The ignorance of dads by the brands who allegedly want our help promoting their wares sadly seems to be endemic and it suggests that we’re somehow second-class parents. I think it’s up to those of us who blog to take them on. How about we start embarrassing perpetrators with a hashtag? I suggest #DadsAreParentsToo 🙂
Thanks so much for commenting – that hashtag is so good – it’s now in the title! 🙂
Totes agree!
I think you’ll like my new book – it’s the first baby sleep book aimed at parents! Not just mums, not just dads, not just mums and dads but ALL parents.
Mums and mums
Dads and dads
Mums
Dads
It’s 2013.
It *almost* sounds like a plug for your new book. *Almost*
Just what the world needs… another bloody baby sleep book.
Nice rant, dude! I think we’re making headway. Good luck getting in front of it & leading the charge!
The House of Dad will be victorious!
There is some irony of course, in that when I began to blog way back in the distant past, it always seemed to be dominated by men. The amount of times I’ve been cited as a dude (my nickname, when people want to wind me up, is “Jim”) because asshole marketers and wannabe journalists can’t read is insane.
Part of me thinks “wahey, men get to see our side of the fucking fence for once”, but then the rational, sane, logical side of me slaps the other side and reminds it that we don’t beat this kind of shit by being a cheerleader for stupidity.
Anyway, I hope you can change things with this rant, even if the first companies to pick up on it will likely do so for the extra publicity 😉 #cynic
The thing is, I *know* how the tables are turned in pretty much everything else in life – but that’s wrong too. I’m not going with the ‘woe is us’ thing – I’m more the ‘woe for the whole damned world’ vibe.
Stupid fucking sexists.
Absolutely.
The one thing that pisses me off is the Iceland ad on the telly “because mums go to Iceland” WUT? Because dad’s can’t shop?! That one has riled me for years – and I’m a mum!