Where Are All the Women? Why Right-Wing Podcasts Are Dominated by Men
By Jaden Satenstein, October 13, 2022
From Candace Owens to Megyn Kelly, conservative media has seen some rising female voices in recent years, a stark contrast to the overwhelmingly white male voices that usually dominate the right-wing news sphere.
This shift is clear in the conservative podcast world, according to TheRighting.com’s exclusive analysis of audience metrics from the podcast app Castbox, the only leading podcast-hosting platform that releases its data.
“The Megyn Kelly Show” had the fastest-growing subscriber base on Castbox in the third quarter this year, showing 60 percent growth since last year. With the 15th-highest number of subscribers, Kelly’s show fell just behind another female Fox News veteran – Laura Ingraham. And Candace Owens took the final spot on our exclusive list of the top 20 conservative podcasts.
But even with this subscriber growth, only three out of the 20 shows on the list are hosted by women. That’s a measly 15 percent, and it raises an important question: Why do men continue to dominate the conservative podcast world?
The Grand Old Party of Men
One explanation is that men in general are more likely to swing right than women, making for a larger audience of conservative male listeners for conservative male podcasters to target. Years of Pew Research Center survey data offer clear evidence of the gender gap in politics. “In 2018 and 2019, the Democratic Party held a wide advantage with women: 56 percent of female registered voters identified as Democrats or leaned toward the Democratic Party, while 38 percent identified as Republicans or leaned toward the GOP,” a 2020 Pew report reads. “This stands in contrast to men, among whom 50 percent were Republicans or GOP leaners and 42 percent identified as or leaned Democratic.” Consistent with those numbers, Joe Biden won 55 percent of the women’s vote in 2020, compared to Donald Trump’s 44 percent.
Even with only about 40 percent of women identifying as Republicans, one might safely assume the conservative media audience should be about 40 percent female. Which makes it all the more curious that a mere 15 percent of popular conservative podcasters are female. After all, 41 percent of female respondents in a 2021 Pew Research Center survey said they got political news from Fox News during the prior week, with 46 percent of men saying the same.
That 5-point difference isn’t a huge gender gap. However, it grows exponentially larger as the news source moves further right. Eight percent of women in that same study reported consuming Newsmax, compared as to 11 percent of men, which works out to a 38 percent gender gap. When we move even further to the right – One American News Network (OAN) – that gap is a walloping 150 percent.
A Bro Cult of Personality
Clearly, the more far-right the news source, the more male the audience. And these popular conservative podcasts are definitely extreme. If you were to imagine the typical right-wing pundit, you’d likely picture an angry white male spewing bile and misinformation about feminism or racial minorities. It’s a fair stereotype. “The Ben Shapiro Show” once again snagged the #1 conservative podcast slot. And Dan Bongino and Sean Hannity aren’t too far behind.
Podcasts are a cult of personality. Even when produced by large networks like The Daily Wire, programs gain success solely off the popularity of their star hosts. And there’s no better way to distinguish your voice and catch an audience’s attention than to produce the most offensive, partisan content possible.
Take “The Matt Walsh Show,” the second fastest-growing conservative show of the third quarter. In just the past week, Walsh has used his podcast to label a drag queen being invited to the altar at a church service as a “satanic display,” and to argue that men shouldn’t cry in public.
At the end of the day, good, old-fashioned sexism may be the best explanation for the conservative podcast gender gap. And by the way, if misogyny runs rampant on the right, it’s apparent in all aspects of the media world. A 2020 report by TheWrap reported that 79 percent of the most listened-to podcasts were hosted by men.
Beyond the Far Right
Even in the world of broadcast news, which features many female journalists, new data from the University of Oxford shows the degree to which gender bias affects which voices Americans deem truly valuable. The 2022 study asked respondents to name up to five journalists they regularly pay attention to. A whopping 70 percent of the names mentioned were male, with just 30 percent of them female. Only two of the top 10 journalists mentioned were women.
Considering the predominantly male audience for far-right media, and the persistent gender bias across the entire political spectrum, it’s not surprising that a political party that constantly produces misogynistic rhetoric and policies would be represented by an old boys’ club.
Nevertheless, the growing success of Kelly’s show begs the question – will conservative podcast networks start elevating female voices to appeal to a more moderate Republican demographic?
Jaden Satenstein (@jadensat) is a writer, producer and social media consultant. She has worked for WNYC, FRONTLINE PBS, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Straus News Manhattan.
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Men in general are more likely to swing right than women, making for a larger audience of conservative male listeners for conservative male podcasters to target. Years of Pew Research Center survey data offer clear evidence of the gender gap in politics. (Photo: Pexels)
