Glad you're raising this issue, Rosie, and thinking about a grant-funded project to address it seems like a smart plan! Testing new ways for making engagement with DYK a more regular part of any workshops or other times where women's biographies are being worked on makes sense to me. My 1 and only DYK was for a woman's bio, but at the time I didn't know anything about the process (wouldn't have occurred to me it was something that a noob working on a short article could be part of). If someone else hadn't nominated, it wouldn't have happened.
On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 8:24 PM, Rosiestep Wiki rosiestep.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
I've noticed this for years -- fewer women's biographies vs. men's in an average week at the DYK section of the main page. Maybe I've noticed this because I'm a highly prolific contributor to DYK. But I've wondered how many reader eyeballs land on the main page and notice the same thing?
Some statistics here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Recent_additions
Annually, there's a preponderance of women's biographies in March (Women's History Month). And during the rest of the year, there's the occasional set (6-7 "hooks") or occasional day (2-3 sets) where the majority of the biographies are regarding women. But it's an uncommon occurrence over the course of a week. The reason seems simple: fewer women's biographies are being nominated by editors, so fewer are promoted, and fewer appear at DYK. It almost goes without saying that fewer women's biographies are created/expanded compared to men's but it's actually important to address this, as IMO, it's the crux of the problem. I am not suggesting and would not support setting limits on the number of men's biographies which appear at DYK. Instead, I'd like to believe that issue/problem recognition is the first step before we brainstorm some objectives, develop workplans (i.e. monthly edit-a-thons anyone?), and measure outcomes.
I'm considering creating a proposal and applying for a grant to work on this "percentage issue". Feedback?
-Rosie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rosiestep
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