That's a shame. There's really no good reason for this industry to be male dominated. All this ever took was some foresight about business trends, some willingness to take risk, shopping skills, and a credit card.
Women of the world, hear me: Get out your credit cards! For too long men have had it easy. There is no doubt that you all have the ability to compete in this realm.
Where are the women domainers?
I know a lot of female web authors/designers. A lot.
I know that the techie/geeky stuff might have more of a male contingent, but when it comes to writing content for the web, I wouldn't assume that the vast majority is male.
Why do women concede the domain name game? I mean, think of word lists, check 'em, register 'em. How hard could that be?
Ummmm . . . don't answer that . . I think. I know what you're going to say: "Where's the challenge, talent and skill in that?"
Alright, then let the men keep all the domaining "easy" money?
More women!
I think those who saw the potential early on and learned the game then probably had a lot of business knowledge. While business knowhow may be 50-50 men-women (I don't know if it is or not) business + computer knowhow is definitely not because computer know-how is not.
There's really no good reason for this industry to be male dominated.
Of course there are biological differences, but there are also cultural influences at work.
When a discussion group, etc. is heavily male-dominated, some women feel uncomfortable joining in, especially if there's a "boys club/frat house" atmosphere. Same applies to careers, interests ... I would guess many men feel equally awkward in fields which are predominantly women... Is that an equal deterrent to participation for both genders? Dunno..
The ability to go through childbirth (multiple times) just shows we're tougher than you guys - though we rarely feel the need to prove it :P.
Fact is, a sad fact but a fact nevertheless, is that men invent the large majority of things and come up with the large majority of business ideas etc etc etc.
I cannot say why this is so, and you can always find exceptions, but it is so.
is that men invent the large majority of things and come up with the large majority of business ideas etc etc etc.
Or are they just more effective at promoting them and making themselves heard? Coming up with a new idea and implementing it involves making waves.
Traditionally, girls tend to be reinforced from childhood for being "nice". There's a lot more acceptance for assertive (even aggressive) behavior (sometimes to the point of covert parental approval) in boys. Watch carefully - you'll notice a big difference in how boys and girls are raised and how a similar behavior is often treated very differently in one or the other even within the same families.
However, times are changing - evidenced by more and more women opting for formerly male-dominated careers in science, technology, etc.
Of course there are biological differences, but there are also cultural influences at work.
PS -- You can give birth and bear pain much better, but males have physically bigger brains (and the lucky of us also muscles) than females! :-)
girls tend to be reinforced from childhood for being "nice"
Fact is, a sad fact but a fact nevertheless, is that men invent the large majority of things and come up with the large majority of business ideas etc etc etc.I cannot say why this is so, and you can always find exceptions, but it is so.
Hmmm, I am surprised that you cannot say why this is so. I am in America, and I'll tell you the reason why this is so (although not so much these days) in America.
Because girls are raised to be pretty and soft-spoken and domestic and taken care of. Boys are raised to be competent and hard-working and tough and to figure things out for themselves.
I think women are much more risk averse and cautious about intangibles such as domains, and IMO most lack vision and give far less value to future opportunities such as making money with your domains down the road.
To me, domaining is equal to spamming. I wouldn't want to be associated with it. Its a male dominated "industry" (if you can call it an industry) ... because men love easy money. Men love anything which is easy. They even love to brag about how they make easy $$$ without lifting a finger.
Believe it or not, women have a need to feel they've accomplished "something" in their work. Crazy I know ... but that's the way we are!
Runs and ducks for cover!
I think women just find domaining to be an exceptionally boring way to make a living. Sure there is easy money in it ... but where's the challenge ... fulfillment? To me, domaining is equal to spamming. I wouldn't want to be associated with it. Its a male dominated "industry" (if you can call it an industry) ... because men love easy money. Men love anything which is easy. They even love to brag about how they make easy $$$ without lifting a finger. Believe it or not, women have a need to feel they've accomplished "something" in their work. Crazy I know ... but that's the way we are!
Totally disagree with all that. Domaining and running websites is very exciting. Hard to beat the thrill of getting your traffic and income to increase thanks to hard work and time, or adding good content to your websites. That is also extremely fulfilling.
It's also not easy money as you said, it takes time, much hard work and lots of knowledge and does not involve not lifting a finger as you claim. At the end of the day I can be completely fullfilled knowing how much was accomplished today and how I improved my websites and portfolio.
Domaining also has absolutely nothing to do with spamming. You are totally off-base in your views Liane.
Domaining and running websites is very exciting. Hard to beat the thrill of getting your traffic and income to increase thanks toi hard work and time. That is also extremely fulfilling.
Que?
We are talking about speculating and buying domain names are we not? Where does running a website, writing content and increasing traffic come into the equation?
Sorry if I am off track ... my back is killing me and I am trying to see how many Bud Lights it takes until I feel numb enough to lie down and go to sleep! Its 3:30 in the morning here.
PS -- You can give birth and bear pain much better, but males have physically bigger brains (and the lucky of us also muscles) than females! :-)
Please see: Women Have More Frontal Lobe Neurons Than Men [faculty.washington.edu]
Perhaps the greater cell density in women's prefrontal lobes compensates for the smaller brain size. Despite these differences, men and women perform equally at most tasks. So even though men may have bigger brains and women have more cells in some critical areas, neither can point to these facts as a measure of greater intelligence. Judging who is smarter is much more complex than finding out who has the largest brain.
Judging who is smarter is much more complex than finding out who has the largest brain.
True. Note that it was a joking remark using a small font size. Hmm, but still I wonder why Albert Einstein's brain was found to be unusually big. Coincidence? ;-)
After all, Lise Meitner was the first person to realize that the nucleus of an atom could be split into smaller parts!
Few people realize it was a woman ( a Jewess from Vienna) was the one who actually made the discovery, as a male scientist with whom she had collaborated professionally for many years named Otto Hahn, claimed responsibility for her work.
Interesting synopsis here: Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]
If I am not mistaken, I believe she actually split an atom in 1937 ... but I am unable to find any corroborating information just now ... and I am finally going to bed!
(Since I've recently been researching in the area of railroad expansion...)
Seriously, whether one may like it or not, "domain-naming" (how grand a title!) is largely reliant on the hot air produced by oneself and others in the "industry". And creating empires on dreams is largely a male pastime (cf. stock manipulation, mlm, timeshare, etc. etc.).
(Although the consumption of those dreams is far more evenly spread.)
After all, Lise Meitner was the first person to realize that the nucleus of an atom could be split into smaller parts!
But how is it relevant here? What's the point?
IMO most lack vision and give far less value to future opportunities such as making money with your domains down the road.
I think most PEOPLE getting into domains right now lack that vision, judging from what people are posting in the domain appraisal threads :)!
Actually, I think the "vision" part of domaining applied to those who started playing in 1995-96+.
These days domaining is less vision and more about prediction: predicting trends, predicting what technologies, jobs, vacation spots, etc. will be hot or growth sectors, etc. Also, it's about predicting trends in direct navigation, such as when people may be typing in longer URLs.
There's always been a wasteland in the domaining game: domains that were registered because the person thought they were "catchy" or "brandable". Sometimes that works. About as often as anyone wins the 5 number lottery, and the payoff isn't that good even when you win. So, I've got to agree with you MomaDawg, that for all "the men" that got it right there have been dozens or hundreds who didn't really get it right.
There's enough info out in the world for women to enter the domaining field - circumspectly.
My suggestion to anyone getting a start is to read alot before proceding and then develop a specialty.
I'm certain there are fields that women know better than men that might be an interesting starting point: Play to your strengths and, in the realm of domaining, knowledge is strength.
