ooo A new Wired Magazine - UK edition. More technology for our geeky pleasure. But are GirlGeeks being overlooked?
My first read of just lauched UK edition of Wired and I was struck by the obvious; where are the women writers?…
A particularly pertinent piece was the article ‘The People Who Really Run Britain’ (PWRRB) (p.136). Thankfully not Bob Quick as Senior Counter Terrorist Officer, but a portfolio of ardent workers who for Philip Sinden ‘operate in the shadows’. Individuals who range from the ‘nation’s memory keeper’ – guarding official documentations in an underground ‘safe house’; ‘the time setter’ responsible for keeping the nations clocks to time; to the a ‘Channel tunnel guardian’ who ‘keeps air flowing through the Eurotunnel’.
Only one of the PWRRB’s Top Ten is a woman. I do not want to labour the point too much, but it seems appropriate to point out (with the support of GirlyGeekdom) that women are not only the minority in terms of written content in Wired, but the same is also true in terms of subject and article presence. The (only) Woman Who Really Runs Britain is Caroline Porter, 29, a business manager at London Metal exchange. Her role is to control the feeds of metal prices – ‘the global reference prices’ - that are delivered to the global economy. Without her there would meltdown, literally.
Skip to the front of Wired (P.15) and the 05.09 Contributors Page, of the six main contributors, one, Susan Greeenfield (Baroness no less), is the pioneer of content contributed by women. I am not suggesting that Wired is all male-to-male content. Far from it. UK Wired is, in my opinion, far better than its US counterpart in the publication of balanced, interesting and satisfyingly technology divulgent coverage. But then I flick back again through the magazine and the if the masculine led written word doesn’t hit you, the masculine emphasis of marketing and advertisement will. TagHeur watch here, Sony Bravia with football coverage there, Jaguar where ‘the thrill lasts much longer’ and Tom Ford ‘for men’ set the tone for the First Edition.
The ‘How to…’ contribution from Kevin Braddock and Jack Dyson (a relation?) is a revelation in its inventiveness for instructions for everday living. From ‘eating for free’, to ‘making your own lipstick’. The boys may fail to explain how to raise the profile of women within a wired culture… but maybe they are building to that in the next edition…
Oh and FYI, type ‘Susan Greenfield’ into the search engine of Wired…
Your search – susan greenfield – did not match any documents.
- Make sure all the words are spelled correctly.
- Try different keywords.
- Try more general keywords.
Yes. Well I think that says it all really.
About Dr Mariann Hardey
I hold the position of Lecturer in Social Media Marketing at Durham Business School. I also spend too much time enjoying social technologies, media+ stuff. That'll make me a Geek then. And a gal.
