It means you're not reading the right blogs by American women: for example Grace Davis and Liz Henry. Grace set up the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief blog and Liz went to Houston with a team of yahoo techies immediately after the hurricane and live-blogged about setting up the networks at the shelter while homeland security was flailing helplessly and the police were notoriously unhelpful. They are two very results-oriented activist-bloggers. Another one is Ronnie Bennett, whose cause is anti-ageism, on Time Goes By. [Sorry I don't have links, but you can google them]

Your observations are interesting concerning female bloggers. I'm a moderate blog reader. Of the 10-12 in the U.S. which I'm currently reading daily, the following are by females. (None of them are primarily about food or child-rearing, although the latter subject is probably at least as important as politics.

• Drsanity.blogspot.com/ University of Michigan MD/psychiatry professor Pat Santy. Her comments are both humorous asides and serious commentary on the psychological aspects of political beliefs. Especially good posts on Denial, Marcissism & Society, and Psychological Defense Mechanisms. Background tidbit: she was the crew psychiatrist for the space shuttle Challenger mission when it was lost: her description of the NASA bureaucracy and her ministrations to the family provide a window into a little-seen aspect of that event.
• Betsyspage.blogspot.com High school history & government teacher from North Carolina. Observations on current events. (I've only been reading her for a couple of weeks.)
• Neo-neocon.blogspot.comNew-England, former therapist, author: her series "A Mind is a Difficult Thing to Change" documents the development of her political beliefs (similar to your series on coming to live in Israel).
• Drhelen.blogspot.com/ Another psycology-oriented blogger, from Tennessee. Current events commentary. Her husband is also a prolific blogger.
• Texas Sparkle Another one I've only been with a short time; current events.

What may be interesting is that all these females are on the more-or-less conservative or libertarian side of the political divide. There may be some thoughtful female leftists over here, but none come to mind off the top of my head. Of the Middle East bloggers I read more-or-less regularly, you happen to be the only female. That said, I recognize that I am not overwhelmingly knowledgable, and that your take is likely to be more accurate.

It is seldom that I even make one comment in a day, and here already I have two to your blog. You ask good questions.

Lisa, I've done a lot of thinking about this. It's not that there aren't women blogging in the US about global, political, social issues. There are. What I think is going on is that the women writing about personal stuff, like Heather of Dooce and Julie of Julie/Julia, are so wide open they get wild visceral responses from other humans. This is great in some ways - share, baby, share - but it also overshadows the women writing about politics (other than Wonkette) etc.

Most men do not share in this way, so the most popular boy bloggers are writing about programming, social networks, or the liberal media. ;)

Along this line, have you met Suw yet?

It could also mean women in the Middle East and South Asia have a farther distance to go than women in Europe and North America, and blogs are a convenient tool for side-stepping institutionalized machismo in their societies.

Perhaps it is because women is developing countries, having fewer opportunities to express themselves, have more to say--while western women have had much easier access to various media (journalism, television, books) to express their most serious concerns.

Plus social change and turmoil, such as it exists in the developing world, makes for better copy than boycotting the expansion of Walmart.

I would imagine that many of these female bloggers in the Middle East and India probably come from families that teach them to strive for success, families that teach them that being female shouldn't stop them from making the most of life. I'd say that it's precisely because of the way that these societies have treated their female populations that there are smart, savvy women out there making their voices heard, in what I expect is the most powerful, far reaching way for them do so, under the societal constraints.

London, eh? And here I was, kicking myself on Erev Yom Haatzmaut because I hadn't thought to invite you up to our place for a barbecue and fireworks with He and family! :-)

I guess I do agree with you.

But I think my taste for women's stories comes from how when i read western blogs, I go for human stories about everyday life - triumphs and tragedies. Similar to my (fiction) reading taste, it is a about seeking out engaging narratives.

When I seek out news on big events, however, I usually go through a collaborative filter, like boingboing (whose one female contributor, btw, gets bizarrely disproportionate flames, while the male contributors have a guru-like status).

Someone I read once opined that a lot of misogyny in the 'geek' world goes unchecked because they think they are too smart to be sexist.

Important bloggers? Making blogs important and too serious seems to be a boys' game, or a boys' business (with conferences on blogging, boring lectures on corporate blogs, live conference blogging with bad flickr photos or complaints about the missing wlan and so on).

You can put mostly men on your blogroll, hoping that they will accept you as one of them, or you play the sexy lady for them, or you just do your own thing.

(In Germany, there's a quite new blog hype: bloggers go to blog readings - enthusiastic blog writers meet in a cafe and others come to hear their stories. Some years ago, the wannabe-serious-bloggers mocked about those "online diaries"...)

Back to old school blogs: Here is a link to "pinko feminist hellcat" that I had already posted last year on a German collaborative weblog, but nobody answered or wanted to discuss about it. Perhaps the hellcat is just right :o)

Ann Althouse (althouse.blogspot) is a fantastic (and quite famous) blogger. She's a law professor and often writes on her subject. She also comments quite extensively on American television shows.

Lisa,

I can't believe you haven't heard of Michelle Malkin and here blog plus her video blog Hotair. Essential reading.