[Gendergap] Hardcoded discrimination

[Delphine Ménard]

On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 11:43 AM, Thomas Koenig <fossa at gmx.li> wrote:
> Sue, Delphine & al.,
> On Mon, 07 Feb 2011 11:25:25 +0100, Delphine Ménard <notafishz at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 7:51 AM, Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org>
>> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>>> So just to make sure I'm understanding this: on for example the German
>>> Wikipedia, not only are all registered users identified as part of a
>>> male category (Benutzer, "male user"), but the actual invitation to
>>> register in the first place is itself also gendered (Benutzerkonto,
>>> "account for male users")?
>>
>> Hmm. It is a bit more complicated that that. When you translate it
>> into English, "account for male users" sounds terrible, but in French
>> (or German, for that matter) having to sign up for a "Compte
>> d'utilisateur" or a "Benutzerkonto" does not sound that bad, at least
>> not to me.
>
> JFTR: "Benutzerinkonto" is not a German word, it would look awkward to say
> the least to any native German speaker.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Compte d'utilisatrice would sound weird,
although it would be correct.

> Besides that, I find all the chatter about grammar, quite tangential.
> There is a culture of misogyny in the Wikimedia projects, way above the
> level of comparable work or even volunteer environments, which is neither
> due to the use of grammar, nor can it be adequately fought with a change
> grammer rules in the software.

Heh, have you then never been addressed as a "Benutzerin"? ;)
"notafish" is gender neutral enough that "utilisatrice" changes the
whole perspective when appended to the username.

I agree that this may not be the most important issue, but I also
believe that all issues that can be tackled should be tackled. And
this is one which might prove quie easy to tackle, actually.


Delphine


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