On 5/13/12 4:30 AM, Sydney Poore wrote:

I think it is relevant to our understanding of how the gender gap developed on WMF wikis.

While I don't believe most early WMF users were misogynists, I think a significant portion of them came from work environments where lack of women was accepted as normal. So, noticing and addressing the problems from lack of female editors was not a high priority. This incident at dell reminds us of the historical issues that caused the gender disparity to become entrenched on WMF projects.

It is one of the best explanations I found for the gender gap. Its not the complete reason, but does explain some aspects of the situation. IIRC, independent and me,  Sue came up with similar thinking that she  posted somewhere during Strategic Planning process several years back. 

Sydney Poore


Hi Sydney :D

I do agree that this is one part of the ever elusive "what is the problem and how do we fix it?" problem. I think when you are used to a boys club, or you are used to working or being in an environment where lack of diversity is standard, one may not think it is a problem. ("This is just the way it has always been") I surely have been there in my way of thinking. I was there for quite sometime until the statistics were released about the Wikipedia gender gap and I attended the women's luncheon at Wikimania. I was just used to the boys club, which I personally fought hard to get into due to my personal interests, even in the fashion industry. (Which is primarily dominated by men telling women what women should wear, look like, etc.)

It's so important to have this dialogue, as what is happening in Wikipedia is happening in the broader tech and other cultural industries. In my opinion, Wikipedia, as a free knowledge service, dictates the way that society has and is progressing culturally. Whether it's the subject matter that makes featured and good article status, or the most popular articles and the content within them. The female voice has continued to be stagnant or quiet in certain communities for far too long, and I think Wikipedia is a broader representation of that. I agree that most of our editors are not misogynists (though some are!), and that Wikipedia is very well just another product of society.  We do have people in the Wikimedia community who are like that moderator/tv personality. Those contributors to the community often have their own unique and vocal minority community of followers. By encouraging the vocal majority, who does not come from that school of thought and does want to see a more diverse Wikipedia/workplace, to voice their opinions and participate in projects then we will have a change, in my opinion.

And it's examples such as the Dell Summit that makes me want to make that voice even stronger.

-Sarah





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Sarah Stierch
Wikimedia Foundation Community Fellow
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