BlogHer:

I thought I was all done posting today and then I came across this: BlogHer. A collection of blogs written by women. They cover any number of topics and I assume at least some of them are worth reading. I haven't had time to explore.

BlogHer recently held their annual conference, and the only reason I know about it is that it sparked something of a backlash on some other blogs that I read. Many female bloggers out there feel that drawing attention to the gender of the author at all is unnecessary. They don't want to be thought of as female technical writers or female marketing directors. They just want to be judged on the content of their blogs and the strength of their work. And while many support the idea of a conference based on women's issues, they don't want such a conference to pretend to speak for all women. Creating Passionate Users has a great entry on the subject, as well as a collection of links to other pieces on the matter, so I won't repeat what they've said.

I do agree with them though, and so I felt a bit guilty all summer when I wrote about being female in Sri Lanka. It's not really an issue I care to deal with. In the States, it's not really an issue at all, at least for me. I work in male dominated industries, but generally, if I don't make light of differences between my coworkers and myself, no one else will either. Conversely, if I start a job with something to prove and an attitude problem, everyone will notice.

In Sri Lanka, I was afforded the same luxuries. I was a tech consultant. Not a female tech consultant. More like the white American tech consultant, if we're going for labels. But ethnic diversity was half the point of going to Sri Lanka in the first place. And although there were times when my gender was an issue, it wasn't at work. And it didn't happen often. Most of it, I think, was in my head.

So the point is, I guess, that for all the women involved in BlogHer and similar organizations, more power to you. But leave the rest of us alone.