In my former career at a Fortune 500 company, I attended many professional development conferences. Because of the nature of the business, most of the attendees were men. We networked, learned, had fun, and nobody cared.
At some of the more popular conferences, vendors would hold elaborate parties that would draw hundreds of attendees. The booze was free, the food was plentiful, and the entertainment was top-notch. It was a nice way to blow-off some steam and enjoy some downtime with my colleagues.
In addition to the sanctioned parties, there were several unsanctioned parties. It was quite common for me to receive an invitation to a strip club or an all-night bar-hopping excursion (BTW – I always declined these). I also saw several guys’ cheating on their wives, misusing company funds, starting fights, and even getting arrested. No big deal. Boys will be boys right?
No major news organizations ran stories titled, “Dads Attend Business Conferences and Leave Their Families Behind – The Horror” or chronicled any of the boorish behavior. But when women organize and attend conferences that are focused on their interests, people become suspicious.
“The Wall Street Journal” published a story titled, “The Mommy Business Trip: Conferences Appeal to Women With a Guilt-Free, Child-Free Reason to Leave Home.” As I read the story, I was offended by the way they characterized “Mommy Bloggers.” Not only was the portrayal condescending, but it also minimized the importance of blogging conferences (You can read this rest of the post, “In Defense of Mommy Bloggers,” on Babble).
Suffice it to say the WSJ article upset many women. I wasn’t the only one who felt compelled to write a response. Several prominent bloggers took the author to task for what they saw as an unfair portrayal of their behavior at conferences. On Tuesday, April 30, 2013, I joined a panel of these women along with the WSJ editor on HuffPost Live to discuss the controversy. Here is link to our conversation – Revenge Of The Mommy Bloggers.
