This is a little off-topic in not being about wikis. But here are two recent nice overview news articles about the state of the science/engineering gender gap [focused on the US]:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/04/science-engineering-and-the-gend... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/giving-women-the-access-code.html?...
I found the second article especially interesting, and was especially struck by how hands-on and one-on-one the approach was in this school (it helps that the college is tiny, wealthy, and fairly prestigious, and thus can afford to do this). It made me think about how many of our own efforts are also one-on-one and hands-on (editing workshops, the teahouse), and what the appropriate balance of effort is between trying to make big systemic change, and trying to increase diversity one new editor at a time. Or is it even possible to do one without the other?
-- phoebe