[Gendergap] Hardcoded discrimination

[Daniel and Elizabeth Case]

Thomas wrote:

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.

My comment:

In the early 1980s, a man named [[Harold Washington]] became the first* 
African-American mayor of Chicago, a city that has had a long history of 
racial tension. There were *many* issues awaiting him as mayor, both related 
and unrelated to that.

In his first weeks as mayor, city public works crews went out to the poorer 
neighborhoods of the city, many of which were predominantly African-American 
and had voted for Washington overwhelmingly. They went and repaved streets 
that had been pitted and potholed for decades.

It was probably the least of their problems, but the gesture was understood 
and appreciated. It helped him hold support through what proved some 
difficult years as mayor (see [[Council Wars]]), years so stressful they 
probably contributed to his early death after he left office.

The lesson: as others have said, if in a process like this you identify an 
issue which can be almost immediately resolved without controversy, DO IT. 
Don't wait for the big picture to get cleaned up.

Daniel Case




*And so far only