The reason for the over-representation of female leaders (in comparison to their overall numbers)? C'mon - we all know the reason! Blokes are bloody hopeless, that's why! Those of us who have had the misfortune of living in all-male accomodation will be able to confirm my thesis. Interestingly, even in a tiny project like the Sicilian wikipedia, the average (and thesis) holds true. One of the 5 "Capi" is female - but we would be absolutely lost without her. pippu d'a
It is my anecdotal sense based on wikipedia meetups and interactions online that about 80% of Wikipedians are male, that this number is better than most free software projects, but worse than I think most of us would like, and that the leadership of the projects tends to be much more heavily female than the averages would suggest.
We have many strong female leaders in various projects. I leave it to others to speculate why this might be. :)
--Jimbo
Chiacchiera con i tuoi amici in tempo reale! http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/*http://it.messenger.yahoo.com