Why Are 70 Percent of the Most Popular Podcasts Hosted By Men?

Maybe you're not counting public radio shows that are podcasted, but two of my favorite podcasts are Good Food, hosted by Evan Kleiman on KCRW, and On the Media, cohosted by Brooke Gladstone on WNYC.

And yes, please do bring back popaganda!

I love Throwing Shade co-hosted by Erin Gibson, which always talks about feminist news/issues. Also, This Feels Terrible hosted by Erin McGathy is hilarious and talks sex and relationships.

And Grantland just launched a new podcast with three of the women writers talking about weekly pop culture topics.

I am a podcast addict and a lady. I wanted to add a few more of my favorites to your list..

-Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend: The name of the podcast might make her sound a little bit like a jerk, but she's absolutely not. I really love the way she interviews people and she's extremely funny.

-How Was Your Week with Julie Klausner: She is funny and opinionated, which could be annoying if she wasn't so darned charming and entertaining.

-The JV Club: Janet Varney interviews people about their youthful years. She's a sensitive soul and she asks her guests good questions.

I used to be a podcast junkie while doing my homework and such in college. My first introduction to podcasts was the Adam Carolla show. It became way too racist, misogynist, and offensive for my taste (the earlier shows were better), so I moved on. I love Democracy Now with Amy Goodman, Rachel Maddow Show video podcast (for times when I miss the show), and Grammer Girl.

I need to give shout-out to BGT (Black Girls Talking) it's a baby podcast just over a year old I believe. It's hosted by four women of color and it discusses racism and exclusion in pop culture, the problems with white feminism, cultural appropriation, and do movie reviews and roundups of news throughout the week. Their lastest podcast had Danielle Henderson, the creator of Feminist Ryan Gosling on. http://blackgirlstalking.tumblr.com/

While we're on the subject of podcasting and the lack of female voices, does anyone know of any good books or blogs on how one would get started developing a podcast of their own? I wanted to start one badly with a friend of mine but she never took it seriously.

I'm a big podcast fan. I probably listen to at least one every day and only a few months ago, I suddenly realized how almost every single voice I heard was male. I realized that I was longing to hear a female voice. Despite the fact that I'd previously told myself that I was to subscribe to no more podcasts, I went out searching for some hosted by women. I was worried about this very issue and was concerned that this form that was supposed to be so wide open was already so dominated by men. I thought about starting one myself for half a second, just to help even out the odds - but for all the reasons you mention here, thought better of it.
Anyway - my active search for some female voices in my Podcast feed led me here to Bitch (thank you!) though I was sad to discover that your podcast is pretty sporadic thus far (make more please, it was one of the winners!) I also discovered DNTO, Sex Nerd Sandra and Stuff you Missed in History Class. I'm excited to check out your suggestions above! Thank you!

I have a few more to add to the list:
Debbie Millman's Design Matters - she interviews people in the design world - illustrators, designers, artists and some folks in marketing
Jaclyn Friedman's Fucking While Feminist - I think the title speaks for itself ;)
Anna David's True Tales of Love and Lust - a monthly podcast where various women tell their stories

Great article! Thanks for raising this issue.

I'm a co-host on two all-female podcasts about issues often thought of (WRONGLY) as being 'male.'

Galactic Suburbia (http://galactisuburbia.podbean.com/) is a discussion podcast about science fiction and fantasy publishing, news and gossip. We were nominated for a Hugo last year, which is one of the more prestigious SF awards - and the podcast which beat us to the trophy, SF Squeecast, is predominantly made up of female voices.

Meanwhile, Verity! Podcast (http://veritypodcast.wordpress.com/) is all about Doctor Who, with a rotating cast of six women.

In both cases, we have a wide audience of men and women - Galactic Suburbia in particular receives emails from male listeners as well as women, often crediting us with inspiring them to widen and diversify their reading choices. Verity! is very new, but has been embraced and supported by the (very male heavy) Doctor Who podcasting community. We've also had some really touching emails from women who have been desperate to hear female voices and perspectives on the show they love.

Running podcasts is a crazy amount of work, for no financial reward (Galactic Suburbia won an award last year which earned us enough money to cover web costs for a few years) but in both cases it's been a great community building exercise and I feel we've achieved something positive. Plus, it's SO MUCH FUN. You can talk about whatever you want and no one can derail or silence you (except, well, each other, but we try to keep that to a minimum). The discussion starts for real once we have said all WE want to say.

An interesting article. I think the point of the amount of time podcasting consumes is a major factor in limiting women's involvement. I'm the first regular female co-host the DWO: Whocast has had, and the amount of time it takes to prepare for, record, and edit the weekly podcast is sometimes overwhelming.

I am a co-host on two podcasts with mixed co-hosts: the DWO: Whocast http://www.dwowhocast.libsyn.com/ a Doctor Who podcast with three men and two women, wherein we rotate hosts for different segments, and a general pop-culture podcast PDAIS http://profdave.libsyn.com/ , with two men and two women (one of whom has now had a child and has therefore stepped back to an occasional co-host).

The Moth Radio Hour, which is now featured weekly on many public radio stations, not only features many stories told in women's voices, but has at least two women, two of their producers, rotating as hosts. Having a woman host every week would be nice, but for some listeners they are all they get to hear on any regular basis outside of the "inter-webs."

Have to mention Feminist Magazine to add to the list! They've been on KPFK Pacifica for a while, but just relaunched their radio show with fresh voices a few months ago & The show is also a podcast - with some awesome guests lately: SoCal people you don't hear elsewhere, plus a truly excellent mix of issues, global feminism, pop culture plus book/movie commentaries. http://bit.ly/PodcastFemMag

If you want to start a podcast, just go do it. A basic microphone is around $20 and the software is free.

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Some are hosted by men, others by women, but either way, I listen to it because it is a good show. I don't care whether the host is a man or a woman. I don't see why this is a big deal.

Podcasts are still a revolutionary medium. There are no barriers to creating a podcast, anyone can create one. So ladies if you want more podcasts created by women, then create more podcasts. If it's interesting, and better still, entertaining, it will be popular. Most people listening don't care if the host is a man or woman so long as they can hold their attention, captivate them and entertain/inform them.

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Loved finding this list of podcast with/by women -- two of my favorites are :

The Jillian Michaels Show - funny, inspiring, great for working out to
and of course:

Terry Gross: NPR's "Fresh Air"