What Motivates Women - especially to write and edit? I think finding motivations many women share and tapping into those to encourage women to start and keep editing is key to this project
I'm an atypical task oriented political organizing/writing maniac, so I'm not the best judge :-) I know many women are busy with home duties and myself have found the last 10 years that elder dog/new young dog care and barter-for-rent-housekeeping certainly have taken up a lot of my time.
So I know it must be more for women with husbands, kids, elderly parents, etc. If I was working more than very part time (plus collecting social security), I wouldn't have the time.
But for those who can squeeze in a few hours a week, what might be their biggest kick/motivator for writing about topics of interest? If the motivation is strong enough, even dealing with the male culture and/or dominance problem is easier psychologically for those who inadvertently or purposively venture into articles where lots of garrulous males hangout.
Since many women (overly?) motivated by selfless motives, Women: make the world a better and smarter place - edit Wikipedia! Just a thought, based on part of my own motivation.
Anyway, feel free to brainstorm on this topic more with your own personal female motivation! :-)
Carol in DC
PS: FYI, re: the long Womens Café discussion at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Feminism#Women.27s_C.... It did evolve into a Wikiproject Women idea, pretty much like the Feminism and LGBT projects. But at this point even other women-related projects are not getting many women contributing, so it seems premature to do another broader one. And theres the chicken and egg problem - do we need a Wikiproject to make more women comfortable with staying or do need more women to support such a project??
Having some experience in caring for elderly parents, that is one activity which, restricting your movement and forcing you to stay home, offers a great opportunity to get involved online.
Also I was talking to a woman at church who lives in a tiny town where she knows hardly anyone and her husband is gone all the time. She was very eager to find interesting things to do. Whether she will take up Wikipedia remains to be seen, but she is already online paying games. Having some technical problems though with her computer.
I guess one question is whether editing Wikipedia is fun and fulfilling for the individual.
Fred