2011/2/2 Delphine Ménard notafishz@gmail.com: <snip>
However, I am extremely interested in the fact that, at least to my observation, the gender gap is slightly less important in the organization (Wikimedia) than it might be in the projects. While real-life informal meet-ups are very much male dominated, it seems to me that the organisation of events, chapter boards and membership, for example, are somehow not so male dominated. Or rather, that more women actually have found their place in those, and are often the lead in making things happen in real life.
I might be mistaken, and it might be some kind of a "selective awareness" which makes me see only the women, but I'd be interested in any kind of study that gives facts about how and why women engage in other parts of the Wikimedia movement, other than editing the projects.
The lessened gender gap on the organizational level of Wikimedia has occurred to me as well.
I believe I have the answer for this, but it is not necessarily a "happy answer".
The online projects attract a good range of somewhat introverted tech-centric people, mostly male, who are not necessarily best equipped (or feel sufficiently confident) for real-life organizational activities.
People involved in real-life organizational activities are then somewhat more resembling of the general population on average (myself clearly excluded!), and so what we're really seeing I think is a "drop-out" of some of the nerdish personality types on this level.
Thanks, Richard (User:Pharos)