Every time a job ad is posted here requesting a female writer, comments abound. Most writers don’t want to apply as they feel an advertising a specific gender is someone up to funny business. I disagree. Sometimes, a different perspective is in order, that’s all. I know of a men’s website that looks for a woman’s point of view often. They feel it adds a sense of balance to their articles and that the men who read the site can benefit from learning all sides of a story.
Let me ask you this, do you feel both a women and a man can write the same exact romance novel or give the same perspectives when it comes to raising kids? Both can write decent pieces but it’s guaranteed the angles will be different. Even an article about men’s fashion will be completely different from a woman’s point of view.
Don’t avoid gender specific article writing just because someone wishes to hire a woman instead of a man. It doesn’t necessarily mean there’s funny business going on at all. Use your best judgement. If someone is trying to get one over it will quickly become apparant. There’s nothing wrong wtih a client wanted a women’s touch. I say go for it.
I often see interesting gigs that seem oriented toward a woman, but don’t mention a specific gender is required. As someone trying to break out of a male-dominated genre and tackle areas such as parenting, I’m interesting in successful pitch tactics.
I currently do a gig that is for a site geared towards women. I imagine they could get some quality info from a man, but there are just “woman things” I’m able to expound upon (emotional stuff) that I know I guy just wouldn’t be able to do in the way they are after.
This site is meant to reach out to women, so a woman (in this case) will give that kind of voice. I think when clients ask for gender specific, they most likely have something pretty specific in mind that they need.
I’m currently working on a gig where i think a man’s perspective would really be helpful.
I realise that you don’t have to have killed someone to write about murder, or to be a man to be able to communicate the male perspective.
But if I was the site owner and looking for a writer, I would specify the male gender.
I don’t shy away from ads looking for women, as long as it isn’t something like “Compliant Male ISO Understanding Female” to collaborate on a writing project!!
Good post and I agree. Sometimes you really need a gender-specific angle and there’s no way around it. As much as we may like to think that we’re versatile writers, writing from the perspective of a different gender is probably not in our repetoire. If it were, we’d all have a lot less arguments with the significant other!
I agree people should avoid those gigs. If a gig was looking for a pregnant woman specifically, it’s with the understanding that readers what to read real world experience, not just theory or secondhand knowledge. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, it’s about targeting an audience.
I don’t apply to gender-specific gigs. Honestly, if someone posted, “only white bloggers need apply” the outcry would be through the roof, don’t you think? So why do we accept that it’s okay for clients to demand a male or female? Yes, I understand about perspective, viewpoint, persona…but if you were applying for an in person job and found the employer discriminating based on gender, race, religion or sexual orientation, you’d have a court case. If I’m a woman and I can write clearly from a male perspective on a topic of interest to me, fine. If not, don’t hire me.