Hi Max,

I haven't studied these decisions, but I try to be sensitive to these issues and am happy to provide some thoughts.

Would you ask editors to provide this information? If so, I would ask them to self identify - as a man, as a woman, [fill in the blank], or decline to answer. I realize that a [fill in the blank] option poses some issues, but I believe it's the most inclusive. I strongly encourage you to avoid the term 'other' as it is so very loaded. I would also recommend using man and woman in place of male and female, which refer to sex and not gender.

I hope you've received helpful feedback from others and that you'll share your paper with the list.

Best,
Megan

On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 2:13 PM, Maximilian Klein <isalix@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello,

I'm doing a project at the moment, and writing a paper, that proposes a Wikipedia Gender Index - like the United Nations Gender Inequality Index. Essentially it will show the proportion of represented (existing article in the Wiki, not editors) Genders over time (both historical time, and as Wikipedia evolves), by language edition, by occupation, and by ethnic group.

I want to be sensitive to the many categories of non-male and non-female genders that exist in Wikipedia. Another balance is make the Index compatible with the other indexes so we can compare. Some of those other indexes are M/F.  So the question is: it could be M/F/Other, M/F+Other (Male/Non-male), M/F/All/the/other/categories. I don't say that any of these are correct. I'm ask if you, or you know any researchers that has studied these decisions and can advise.



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Megan Wacha | Research and Instruction Librarian for the Performing Arts
Barnard College | 3009 Broadway | New York, NY 10027
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