More and more people are working from home these days and for good reason; they can avoid the daily commute to the office and enjoy a relatively greater level of freedom. However, it seems that not all work-at-home professionals are alike.
I find it interesting, especially in this day and age, that society still separates its people based on gender. When you make your way around the Internet, you’ll find that the male entrepreneurs can be presented in a slightly different way than their female counterparts. The lines are blurring, to be sure, but the lines certainly do exist.
The Online Gender Gap
On the one hand, you’ll hear about a good number of work-at-home moms. The term has become so commonplace that its acronym, WAHM, is universally understood in this realm. As a whole, the WAHM community can talk about how to best manage a home-based business with the responsibilities associated with raising a family. They have their own online social circles and they network as such.
On the other hand, you have a large number of male Internet entrepreneurs too. These are guys like Darren Rowse and John Chow. While they have families of their own, the way that they are presented is quite different from the work-at-home mom community.
Realistically, though, is there really any difference between the two?
Exclusion Does Not a Good Community Make
If you take the “work at home mom” term, it automatically excludes many people who may be in similar situations. What if the working woman does not have any children? Then, she’s not a mom. What if the working woman isn’t a woman? Where’s the place for work-at-home dads?
Perceptions are shifting, thanks to sites like Dad Camp, but I think the preconceived notions of a WAHM and a (male) entrepreneur can be quite different.
In the end, I think these two sub-niches have more in common than they have as differences. They’re both just as susceptible to urban cabin fever, though the WAHM may have a harder time waking up at noon due to family-related responsibilities… though the dads can pull their weight too, right?
This post was a bit of a stream of consciousness, but I figured it was a thought worth exploring. What do you think?
Recent Comments