Tim March 12, 2015 Other stuff

Why are there so few dad bloggers?

I’ve written a guest post for Vicki (aka Honest Mum) over at her blog, pondering why there are so few male parenting bloggers in the UK.

49.2% of the UK population is male but according to the Tots100 index of UK parent blogs only 9% of their 8,000-plus members are men, including just two in the top 100. Dad bloggers are vastly outnumbered – it’s not so much a gender divide as a gaping chasm.

Why is that?

You can read the full post over at honestmum.com.

25Comments

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1

Ashley Beolens on March 12, 2015 at 1:35 pm
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I read the full post over on Honest Mum but wanted to comment here as well, I think it is a great post and I pretty much agree, I also think we are a growing community (there are a couple of decent Facebook dad groups), I think the problem is that firstly men don’t talk, is a true statement, we are usually ones to bottle things up, so blogging, fitting the bill of being talking, isn’t something men will instantly come to (I am quite new to dad blogging having blogged on wildlife for years, so it’s a different world).

Secondly I think that it is still very much the case that men tend to work (rather than be SAHDs, as you say) and there isn’t a lot of time to blog after a long day at work. I’m lucky in that I work shifts so have loads of time off, and it is then that I can write, promote (badly) and socialise with other bloggers online.

But we are growing in numbers, and hopefully will become as powerful a voice for dads as mum bloggers are for mums.

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  Tim on March 12, 2015 at 1:59 pm
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  Thanks for commenting on both posts, Ashley – above and beyond the call of duty! I agree with the contributing factors you mention. Although, of course, there are plenty of dads who are happy to share their experiences and make time around work commitments, I don’t think anyone would argue that proportion is smaller than it is with mums. Which is why it’s taking a while to develop that critical mass which allows a self-supporting sub-community of dads (asd a subset of parent bloggers) to form. One day we will hopefully be like the US, where the dads’ community is much more visible and they even have their own dad-specific events. We’ll get there eventually.
  
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Michelle Reeves (bodfortea) on March 13, 2015 at 2:50 pm
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And a fab post it is too. Have commented over at Vicki’s place but just wanted to *wave* over here as well 🙂

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  Tim on March 14, 2015 at 10:16 pm
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  Thanks Michelle. I appreciate you taking the time to comment here as well.
  
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tombriggs79 on March 14, 2015 at 8:57 am
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Like Ashley and Michelle, I’ve read, enjoyed and commented on the post on Vicki’s blog but also wanted to comment here. Cracking post as always and you’re spot on with all your observations. I definitely think that dad bloggers are on the increase though (since I started five years ago, anyway) so I’m optimistic!

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  Tim on March 14, 2015 at 10:17 pm
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  I’d agree, Tom – we’re definitely on the increase. One day we hopefully won’t make the distinction between dad and mum bloggers – we’ll all be parent bloggers to the rest of the world.
  
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martyn on March 14, 2015 at 2:57 pm
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I don’t know. I think there are loads of dad bloggers. I know we have an awful lot in the dad network bloggers group (but you have to ask al about that) I think that there is definitely more mummy bloggers because generally they communicate and seek a community much more than men do. I know about 40 dad bloggers and about 6× that mummy bloggers. I also think that the tots score isn’t accurate. For example I’ve been blogging for years and I only just signed up to tots last month. Men don’t reach out enough and I think that much is why they remain hidden. But I believe that they’re there!

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  Tim on March 14, 2015 at 10:22 pm
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  I think it’s great that the Dad Network is thriving but there just aren’t that many communities for dads. I know what you mean about Tots100 – I only joined about 18 months ago – but it’s a big community of over 8,000 bloggers and is therefore as representative as we’re going to get. The real % of dad bloggers may be more than the quoted 9% (bearing in mind that this was the figure in early 2014 rather than currently) but I would be amazed if it was, say, closer to 20% than 10%. My experience is that dad bloggers remain vastly outnumbered – even if we take your guess at face value, dad bloggers would still only be 1 in 7, which is just 14%. And in terms of the most active and most read parent bloggers, the balance is tilted even more in terms of mums for all the reasons you and others have said.
  
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Catriona Stephen on March 14, 2015 at 3:35 pm
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Very interesting post. To be honest it was something I’d never thought about but now I’m thinking about it I’ve hardly come across any Dad bloggers and loads of Mums. I do hope more Dads join the blogging community and one day the numbers will be more equal 🙂

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  Tim on March 14, 2015 at 10:24 pm
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  Dad bloggers are definitely a growing community – and, of course, men are very active in other areas online, such as gaming and film/TV. With more of us likely to be in full-time work, we’re always going to be in the minority, but hopefully we’ll continue to grow in number.
  
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Jenni (@BabyChaos11) on March 14, 2015 at 9:48 pm
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Read the post in full over at honest mum, I think this is a very interesting point, and I think that it is shame more dad’s don’t blog! But I also think that we should be thinking of ourselves as parent bloggers, though some people might disagree, (sometimes it is important to have that identity of mum or dad, because we do face different challenges even though we face a lot of the same challenges too).

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  Tim on March 14, 2015 at 10:28 pm
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  Thanks Jenni. I agree that the ideal would be for everyone to consider us all as ‘parent bloggers’, but the current reality is that the category is largely institutionalised as being about ‘mums’ – you only have to look at how many brands behave to see that fathers are often overlooked. There are so many great dad bloggers out there, and then people such as Vicki who are so supportive in championing the cause of dads. But until the massive disparity in numbers starts to be redressed, we will always tend to be regarded as dads and mums rather than parent bloggers – it’s the nature of minority representation. That’s why we have so many organisations promotion such causes as women as business leaders, or the MOBOs (Music Of Black Origin).
  
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    Jenni (@BabyChaos11) on March 15, 2015 at 9:44 am
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    I think it’s great that there are people like Vicki out there, she is amazing and has a great platform to provide support and bring attention to dad’s blogs. If people aren’t reading dad’s blogs they are really missing out as they are some of the best blogs out there!!
    In terms of brands I can see what you mean, it does seem one sided, let’s hope that things can change for the better and soon and we can all be parents bloggers, =)
    
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      Tim on March 15, 2015 at 10:01 am
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      Things are definitely starting to change but hopefully we will see more brands working with dads and more of us present at events such as BritMums Live. (I’m going for the first time this year – gulp!)
      
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travelingchristie on March 15, 2015 at 4:54 pm
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A thouht provoking question, Dads have a lots to offer and have a ready waiting audience to yes why aren’t there more Dad bloggers out there x

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  Tim on March 15, 2015 at 8:15 pm
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  There are definitely more than there used to be, and with some more prominent ones now hopefully that will encourage more dad bloggers to start and keep going to add to the conversation.
  
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Tim @ Families Again on March 15, 2015 at 6:00 pm
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Greetings from another man blogger named Tim but from the other side of the pond. Great post. Don’t ever let people tell you that Twitter can’t be used to promote your blog. I found this post after searching #SundayBlogShare and I’m glad I did. I left a more lengthy comment on honestmum’s blog but I wanted to come over here to comment as well. Now to go and check out some of your other posts.

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  Tim on March 15, 2015 at 8:18 pm
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  Hi Tim – thanks for stopping by to comment. We don’t seem to be as well developed as a community as in the US but we’re getting there. Always good to hear from a fellow dad blogger, especially one with such an illustrious name … 🙂
  
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tenminutesspare on March 15, 2015 at 7:25 pm
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I’m so glad I saw this again on #sundasstars. I read it initially on honestmum and was distracted by my little ones before I commented. A really insightful post and particularly interesting for me to read as a newcomer to the parenting blogging scene! I’ve been so busy trying to work out the intricacies of interacting on social media that I hadn’t really had time to ponder the relative dearth of daddy blogs. I will definitely make sure to include plenty in my reading and commenting now you have shed some light on this matter.

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  Tim on March 15, 2015 at 8:19 pm
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  Welcome to the wonderful world of parent blogging! There’s such a diverse and talented range of both mum and dad bloggers out there – hopefully you’ll find some dad blogs you like too!
  
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Keisha || The Girl Next Door is Black on March 15, 2015 at 8:16 pm
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It was really cool to read your perspective. I’ve been wondering why there aren’t more dad bloggers myself (I am neither mommy nor daddy blogger 🙂 ).

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  Tim on March 15, 2015 at 8:21 pm
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  Thanks Keisha. I think there are a lot of reasons and the reality is that I doubt dad bloggers will ever achieve parity in terms of numbers. Which, actually, is fine. I would just hope that there is enough of a community and support network – of both mums, dads and non-parents – to encourage more dads to start and continue.
  
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    Keisha || The Girl Next Door is Black on March 15, 2015 at 8:23 pm
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    I think as more and more dads share increased responsibility for child-rearing, companies expand their family leave, and a few other trends we’re seeing, the dad bloggers will increase. Those voices need to be heard too.
    
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David Biehl on March 16, 2015 at 5:19 pm
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I just started “dad blogging” last week after observing the lack of father oriented Twitter handles in the Parenting category of Twitter. This article confirms what I saw and gives me some motivation to keep it up! Thank you!

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  Tim on March 16, 2015 at 10:25 pm
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  Keep at it, David. It’s a great community to be part of.
  
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