[Gendergap] Nine Reasons Women Don't Edit Wikipedia

[Sue Gardner]

On 20 February 2011 14:24, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:

> Sue, as you know, this is the area of my greatest concern regarding the
> future of the Wikipedia Project. The gender gap is a part of the larger
> problem you described above: That of a combative, hostile and defensive
> culture that presents an unchecked arena for Community Member harassment and
> abuse - that prevents the type of healthy, intelligent and productive
> collaboration that can, and will, improve and maintain the quality of the
> Project. Is there, are there, plans to mount a similar initiative to tackle
> this larger problem? To approach it as a gender-neutral problem?

Yes, absolutely. And it's not just plans: people are actively working
on the issue, today. This is the primary work of the Community
department at the Wikimedia Foundation -- the staff there are
currently working with community members on a bunch of projects and
activities to help make the Wikimedia projects more inclusive. A lot
of that is happening on the outreach wiki -- for example, the Account
Creation improvement project, the Bookshelf project, the Ambassador
program, support for student campus associations, and so forth.

http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Account_Creation_Improvement_Project
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bookshelf_Project
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Ambassador_Program
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_student_clubs

There's also some outreach-related/outreach-supportive activities that
have been announced on the Wikimedia blog:

http://blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2011/01/12/new-wikimedia-fellow/
http://blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2010/11/30/upload-wizard-launches-beta-wikimedia-commons/
http://blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2010/09/30/two-new-community-department-fellows/

I agree with you Marc that our central challenge is the need for deep
culture change, to help Wikimedia be more inclusive and open. I think
the gender challenge is part of that, but it's obviously not the whole
story: we need more women, and we also need more editors from outside
North America and Europe, as well as other underrepresented groups.
And we want current editors to be having better, more positive
experiences on the projects, as well.

Thanks,
Sue