The Inspire team is compiling a FAQ that should help to address this question among others: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Address_the_gender_gap/FAQ
As I mentioned on the talk page that you linked, the overall gender ratio among respondents of a particular survey (e.g. the 9% you are citing from the November/December 2011 survey, or the 13% in the 2008 UNU-MERIT survey) is a tricky substitute for "the" gender ratio among Wikimedia contributors overall. The underlying populations are actually different between surveys - they were available in different sets of languages, the definition of who counts "editor" can vary between surveys; also, we have evidence that the participation rate can vary between editors from a particular country or language, etc. But these concerns, as well as the soon to be published results from the 2012 survey, do not change the overall conclusion that Wikipedia's editing community has a large gender gap.
Also, thanks to the PLOS ONE paper by Hill and Shaw, we now know that such volunteer web surveys are likely to underestimate the ratio of female editors by several percent. Using their correction method, they estimated that in the US, the ratio of female editors was 22.7% in 2008 (more than a quarter higher than among respondents in that survey). http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0065782
So overall, I think the Inspire team made the right decision in going with "less than 20%" in the banners (personally, I prefer the wording "less than one in five" which is mathematically identical but a bit better at avoiding to evoke the kind of false sense of precision that has developed about this topic at times).
On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 6:04 AM, Neotarf neotarf@gmail.com wrote:
Where does the "less than 20%" number come from? The last survey I see is https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/December_2011_Wikipedia_... this one from 2011. On page 34 the numbers break down to 90% male, 9% female, 1% transgender.
Sure 9% is "less than" 20%, but it is also "less than" 70% or 100%. This seems really misleading about the scope of the problem.
Is there more recent research that has been released, that would justify the use of the 20% number? The last I heard, we were still waiting for the results of the 2012 survey. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_talk:Wikipedia_Editor_Survey_2012
On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 2:11 PM, Alex Wang awang@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello Wikimedians,
Today we are pleased to announce the launch of the Inspire Campaign in IdeaLab!
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire
This campaign aims to encourage, foster, and support new ideas for improving gender diversity on Wikimedia projects. Less than 20% of Wikimedia contributors are women, and many important topics are still missing in our content. We invite all Wikimedians to participate in the campaign on Meta-wiki by sharing your ideas, skills and feedback, and by helping to spread the word in your local communities. The campaign runs until March 31.
All proposals are welcome - research projects, technical solutions, community organizing and outreach initiatives, or something completely new! Grants are available from the Wikimedia Foundation for projects developed during this campaign that need financial support. Constructive, positive feedback on ideas is appreciated, and collaboration is encouraged - your skills and experience may help bring someone else’s project to life. We hope experienced community members will also watch the IdeaLab pages to help keep the discussions positive and constructive. Join us at the Inspire Campaign and help our projects better represent the world’s knowledge!
Cheers,
Alex & the Inspire Team
-- Alexandra Wang Program Officer Project & Event Grants Wikimedia Foundation +1 415-839-6885 Skype: alexvwang
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Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing, please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap