Hey,
I am new on this list, not from the US and not that much involved in a particular wikipedia community. Anyway, I second every word Laura Hale has said so far. There are some male persons here, commenting almost every single email without contributing and that's tiring. There are also some men, who don't really listen to or even actually dismiss womens' concerns and seemingly the whole purpose of this list (putting gendergap in quotes as if it's not a real problem). And last but not least some men got quite defensive when this was pointed out, and, instead of taking a step back, started getting aggressive.
As far as I noticed, the idea to fork the list wasn't framed as a magic bullet but as a means to have a safe space for women to talk about the gender gap and how to tackle it. Unfortunately, quite a few of the responses really did drive home the need for such a safe space. So far, this list seemed rather preoccupied with debating its usefulness and some mens' conceptions and feelings than working towards its purpose.
If you're serious about recognising about women and their opinions, start by doing so, full stop.
Sincerely, Helga
PS: "Throwing a hissy fit” is, as urban dictionary puts it, “often used to describe female anger at something trivial” and as such quite a loaded and sexist proverb. It's demeaning towards women in implicating they're concerns are less vaild and important than men's. On a list discussing gender-related issues I'ld rather not work with people accusing me of such.