Well Peter, when I come here (the day the list was created) the idea was to create a list to discuss HOW TO REDUCE GENDER GAP (in caps to make it more clear), that was the propose and that was the one I accepted. So far, I saw lots of discussions about en.wiki articles and images, and very little about the main objective of this list. I'm asking too much that we actually start discuss what we came here to discuss? I don't think so. _____ *Béria Lima* Wikimedia Portugal <http://wikimedia.pt> (351) 963 953 042 *Imagine um mundo onde é dada a qualquer pessoa a possibilidade de ter livre acesso ao somatório de todo o conhecimento humano. Ajude-nos a construir esse sonho. <http://wikimedia.pt/Donativos>* On 25 December 2011 19:41, Pete Forsyth &lt;peteforsyth(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

To me, article differentials like this are one of the most interesting manifestations of the gender gap, and are worth talking about on this list. Content that deals primarily with women is systematically underdeveloped throughout the projects, and that is a big deal. The gendergap would still be disturbing even if this weren't the case - but to me at least, the systemic underdevelopment of content is probably the single most worrisome issue involved. I conduct physical outreach about gendergap issues in the bay area on a regular basis - I think I have five talks/lectures/brownbags currently scheduled in the next month and a half. This sort of example is great, because it helps people understand why Wikimedia's massive demographic gaps are a serious problem. Obviously a single example can't prove a systemic problem, but using concrete examples makes the issue much more real to some people than just saying "According to researchers at NYU, we're XX% more likely to be missing important biographies of women than Britannica is." I usually mention the hairdresser/barber example, and it's probably been more effective at generating interest than any other single thing I've mentioned - at this point I'm getting emails from people I've never met who want to get involved after having had that example relayed to them by people who I have talked to. So, thanks Sarah, this specific example will work itself in to a talk in the near future :) ---- Kevin Gorman User:Kgorman-ucb

On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 8:00 AM, Laura Hale &lt;laura(a)fanhistory.com&gt; wrote: On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 7:04, Pete Forsyth &lt;peteforsyth(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: Laura, the entirety of your email is spot on list and I just want to thank you for your clarity on this matter and for demonstrating what this list could really be discussing. By focusing on supporting women in, and into, leadership positions we recognise the exponential potential for greater numbers of women to be involved, to be active, in the global movement - and when encouraging female participation we can learn to realise we don't need to tell them what to do, what to edit, but simply help open up the pathways to everything. By way of example, a major political party in Australia has a grassroots organisastion (a structurally integrated significant organisation) called 'Emily's List' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMILY%27s_List_Australia, itself inspired by a USA model. Now I'm not here espousing 'what women want' is best served by an Australian or a American model of pro-active involvement in championing women's involvement, because I have no doubt there is also mirror-organisations throughout the northern and southern hemispheres. I'm simply explaining that which I know about at the same time realising the limitations of my knowledge. The significance to Wikimedia of this type of women's model for organising, is that it focuses it's efforts on not only increasing female participation but on training them into positions of leadership; that is, training females on what, and how, and about, all aspects of the movement. When a female has the knowledge they can do. Anne ----- Original Message ----- From: Laura Hale To: Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects Sent: Monday, December 26, 2011 8:00 AM Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Bothersome? (Re: Pimp) On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 7:04 AM, Pete Forsyth &lt;peteforsyth(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: Hi Beria, Beria, you and I have both been here for a long time, both on the Gender Gap list and on Wikimedia projects generally. And unless I'm missing something, I don't think either of us have offered up a plan of how to explore or reduce the gender gap. I agree with you that posts like Sarah's are probably not getting to the core of the gender gap issue (and I suspect she would agree) -- but personally, I don't think they do any harm, and I do think they help people on this list find opportunities to work together and begin to develop working relationships. But..that's beside the point. How about if you and I both make an effort to suggest issues this list could take on that would be useful? I would be very interested to hear how you would like to approach things, and I could probably manage to string together my thoughts in a useful way as well. What do you think? Let's propose some alternative, or additional, directions the discussion here might take. Several women involved with chapter leadership are helping to organise two conferences: One for women's leadership in the WMF movement, one for the gender gap. That's a major, major accomplishment. These both be firsts of their kind and demonstrate leadership from women. The list has been fantastic in some ways in terms of inspiring the creation of both. I'd love to see more discussion about these topics, and solutions for how to support women in leadership positions around the globe. It would be fantastic if some of the members here could help promote the women's leadership conference (which is not about increasing female editing) at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiWomenCamp . :) By supporting women, by helping attract women to leadership positions, we should hopefully improve the situation down the line. That's one of the beautiful things about femocracy. :) It would also be fantastic to draw more attention to these women who are successful, determine how we can support them, continue to support them. This list is often focused on American women on English Wikipedia to the exclusion of all else. Let's really work on celebrating women around the globe. There is a Hungarian woman who has done hugely awesome things for Wikimedia Hungary. There is another woman from Asia who helped her chapter get a million dollar grant. There is a Dutch woman who helped organise GLAM Camp. Norway's involvement with Wiki Loves Monuments owes a lot to a few female members. Argentina has four women on their Chapter board. Italy has several women who do high level GLAM work and coordinate projects across multiple countries. Before we go much further though, I think we do need to document what the status of the gender gap is. Can you help improve http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiWomenCamp/FAQ/Perspectives those perspectives? I don't think you can begin to fix the problem unless you know what it is. This is an important first step in terms of beginning to understand the scope of the problem. -- twitter: purplepopple blog: ozziesport.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap

Again, you raise important questions addressing how we can find and nurture women in the global context. I also appreciate your positive comments about the men in Australia in the wikimedia movement. In the Australian Chapter men and women have traditionally worked side by side in our endeavours to support and grow our mission. In particular the men and women who have and continue to make up the committee, operate in an egalitarian manner, and the male leadership continually demonstrates and shows appreciation for an awareness of women's involvement in the projects and the running of the Chapter, as do the women for the men. So I guess we are lucky in the knowledge that it is to a large degree the Australian way of doing things. We are however, both the men and the women, aware of the need to support and take action for improvements across the board and the global movement. Thanks, Anne On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 1:19 PM Laura Hale laura(a)fanhistory.com wrote: ----- Original Message ----- From: Laura Hale To: Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects Sent: Monday, December 26, 2011 1:19 PM Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Bothersome? (Re: Pimp) On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 12:20 PM, Ms. Anne Frazer &lt;frazera(a)bigpond.com&gt; wrote: Laura, the entirety of your email is spot on list and I just want to thank you for your clarity on this matter and for demonstrating what this list could really be discussing. By focusing on supporting women in, and into, leadership positions we recognise the exponential potential for greater numbers of women to be involved, to be active, in the global movement - and when encouraging female participation we can learn to realise we don't need to tell them what to do, what to edit, but simply help open up the pathways to everything. Thank you for the kind words. :) And yes, supporting women in leadership is extremely important. They will bring other women with them. They have unique networks that we might not be able to reach otherwise. They often understand local cultures better, or know people who can do things. I'm simply explaining that which I know about at the same time realising the limitations of my knowledge. The significance to Wikimedia of this type of women's model for organising, is that it focuses it's efforts on not only increasing female participation but on training them into positions of leadership; that is, training females on what, and how, and about, all aspects of the movement. When a female has the knowledge they can do. Opportunities for leadership are probably a great motivational tool to get women involved, especially if they have a built in support structure to help them with their activities. I don't know if such a structure currently exists now on a wider level, or if it is dependent on chapters to do good work and be inclusive and for leaders in individual chapters to make sure that women make connections to allow them to lead. I suspect what happens now is we try to recruit people, get a few women who are self motivated and they are left to fend for themselves in terms of developing these networks to help them. And these networks are fundamental to success. Why do feel like I've been so successful with my GLAM work? Because I had a few existing GLAM people who were tremendously supportive of me. Why have I felt so successful recently inside my chapter? Because there are women I can turn to and ask for help. Can I and do I get this same support from men? Yes, and I'm grateful to them. I love working with them… (Australia has had a number of men work on our perspective page. Fantastic and I love it!) but I feel like there is something special about working with other women. Providing a support network, going out and developing our female leaders, encouraging them to be involved is key to not just fixing the gender gap but to increasing participation over all around the globe. If we're looking for a solution, I think this is the first one we should be looking at: How do provide support to women in a global context to support their already good work? How do we find and nurture additional female leaders? -- twitter: purplepopple blog: ozziesport.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap

Beria, It looks like we misunderstood each other pretty badly -- sorry if I didn't express myself clearly. I'm genuinely interested in the kind of strategy people on this list believe would improve gender-related issues. That includes you. Thanks for the reminder about the conference you're planning. I'm aware of it, and am glad it's happening. My question (which was meant as an invitation, not a challenge) is about your general thinking around the conference. What is your theory about how to improve gender-related issues in the Wikimedia world? (and how will things like this conference fit into that thinking?) I'm not saying that I know the right theory (though I suppose I have some ideas); when you reacted strongly against a specific approach earlier in this thread, it made me wonder what your general thinking is, and what kinds of tactics you *would* like to see. If you'd like to share that, please consider this an invitation. I'm not sure where the part about Wikimedia staff comes in. I'm not a WMF employee, and haven't been for nearly a year; but even if I were, I don't think it has anything to do with who gets to talk about what. As far as I'm concerned, this list is not a WMF-specific space. -Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]] on English Wikipedia etc. On Sun, Dec 25, 2011 at 1:03 PM, Béria Lima &lt;beria.lima(a)wikimedia.pt&gt; wrote: