Learned On...

Do Women Need Gender-Specific Business Magazines?

This just in:  As per MediaPost, Forbes is launching Forbes Life Executive Women in October.

I am all for better serving the businesswoman reader, but am wondering if entire new magazines need to be created to do so.  Forbes is an established, well-read publication.  What about just working to make its content and delivery  more relevant to women (in ways that don’t alienate men).   Magazines are launching and fading very quickly these days, so why not work on the making the existing titles more relevant for existing readers?

I’d love to hear what you think.  Do you sense a real need for "women-specific" business magazines?

Monday, March 26th, 2007 in Media Bits

5 Responses to “Do Women Need Gender-Specific Business Magazines?”

  1. Anonymous Says:
    March 27th, 2007 at 8:19 am

    I recently subscribed to Pink Magazine and I do like that it is targeted to women. It’s a great read with many topics that may not be seen in general business magazines. I think women-specific magazines may have their place as long as they’re done well and women (or even men) get good value from the content.

  2. Andrea Learned Says:
    March 27th, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Thanks for your input - and I think your point is well taken, the women-specific magazine can serve a need as long as it is done well and not a superficial ploy.

    So…what are some of the extra topics that you wouldn’t see in other biz mags? I’d love to hear more details from people who are regular readers of Pink or other such magazines. Do health/beauty/fitness topics have a place in women’s biz mags, for example?

  3. Mary Says:
    March 27th, 2007 at 2:25 pm

    I agree…given that men and women are here to stay in terms of shoulder to shoulder working together in the corporation, it makes more sense for us to understand each other better…having a separate magazine moves us further apart…men won’t go out of their way to read a magazine aimd at women and vice-versa…Forbes should know better…after all, good executive and leadership skills have very little to do with gender

  4. Andrea Learned Says:
    March 29th, 2007 at 8:51 am

    My post published on the MarketingProfs DailyFix blog as well and got some very active discussion going with men and women. Check it out if you are interested, at: http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2007/03/do_women_need_genderspecific_b_1.html

  5. Gisela Gier Says:
    April 3rd, 2007 at 5:05 am

    Personally, it just feels like an unimaginative ploy from Forbes to lure all the luxury women’s brands into a new advertising space. Forbes is about “articles on the worlds of industry, finance, international business, marketing, law, taxes, science, technology, communications, investments, entrepreneurships, etc.” Its not about understanding women in the working world. It should aim to include women in existing spaces, where none existed before, on every level and broaden coverage for women irrespective. Gender is a really dull dinstinction against what women around the world have achieved professionally.