Blogging in Education: Girls?

Having just returned from a fantastic October break I have been doing a little bit of research in to why blogging in education is predominantly by males. I am aware that not everyone reading this post will be blogger.

Quote Wikipedia
'A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media'

Blogging is relatively new to me. I myself was unaware of the immense benefits that blogging brings until I became involved with the exciting initiative GLOW. It was Ewan McIntosh from LTS who really inspired me to start. Initially, setting up a blog can be a rather daunting and frustrating process. Rather like learning to use a new mobile phone, or an application such as File-maker Pro. However, once set-up it is all go. But why is it that the majority of Educators networking in this way are male?
Briefly asking a few female colleagues from all levels of the secondary sector, their comments include the following:

‘I just don’t have enough time’

‘I don’t know how to begin? I would if some one could show me’

‘Blogging is fine for reading, but I have no idea what I would write about!’

‘Blogging? No it’s not for me. I have only visited two blogs. Where do people get the time to do this? It’s all a bit flashy and cliquey if you want my honest opinion!’

‘I would rather stick pins in my head than read or write a blog!’

The general feeling I perceived was a lack of confidence in using ICT. Some staff are not confident in using PowerPoint. Logically, they will not be entertaining the thought of producing a blog. I strongly feel that classroom practitioners who are confident and able in this field should be given opportunity to pass our expertise on. I can understand why the blogosphere might appear clique from the outside, but anyone reading this can be rest assured that it isn’t. We are just well practised with our ICT skills. Speaking for myself (and I am sure my fellow bloggers will agree) we are more than willing to help you if you would like to start! Time may also appear to be an issue. It might look like bloggers spend hours on the net, typing and creating sites, but again this is not the case. Once the Blog is created, it is just a case of posting articles when you choose. Most bloggers have become very quick at typing. Having spoken to Ewan McIntosh via SKYPE, he can type a huge 60 words a minute! As they say, practice makes perfect! There does seem to be a slight negative attitude among some staff and I and my fellow bloggers must try and turn this feeling around. As a GLOW mentor, I am hoping to encourage more staff to blog, but before they blog they will need more support in using ICT. You have to walk before you can run! Though, in my opinion, this support will be fairly useless unless it is given on a one to one basis. This will need to happen soon as what we have occurring is a polarisation between those who are seen as ICT gurus, and those who struggle to use outlook express.

Anyway, I have gone a bit off the track here! What are the reasons for more males than females to be blogging in education? I think that, in general, male teachers are more confident in using ICT, that is not to say that us ladies are any the less able! Let me know what you think.