[Gendergap] Two Letters to the (New York Times) Editor

[Daniel and Elizabeth Case]

Oh, please. The reason women don’t contribute to Wikipedia is that we have more pressing things to do. I would love to elaborate, but I have to finish the laundry, pay the bills, feed the cat, clean the apartment, and do the meal planning and grocery shopping before I head off to work.

Alice Henry Whitmore
New York, Jan. 31, 201

This was a common theme in many of the comments on the Room for Debate posts.

Looking at some of the larger social trends around this, I seem to recall reading that (in the US at least), the Great Recession has resulted, for the first time since anyone's been measuring, more men than women losing their jobs. Or, in the case of new graduates, not getting them at all.

Since it seems to be an accepted aspect of Wikipedia history that the site got its initial editor boost from newly-unemployed dot-commers with the time to kill, I wonder if the current gender imbalance at least partly reflects that. Is there any data on gender differences as to how unemployed people are likely to spend their time when they're not looking for work (or when they've become [[discouraged worker]]s.)?

Daniel Case
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