[Gendergap] How to increase women's participation on Wikipedia

[Laura Hale]

My understanding is this list is about increasing women's participation
rates on Wikipedia, relative to the participation rates of men.  There are
two days to do this: 1) Encourage existing male participants to stop
contributing to Wikipedia, or 2) Encourage women to participate on Wikipedia
at rates higher than Wikipedia acquires new male contributors.

For this list to work, the policies need to be structured around the needs
of women.  The needs of men are clearly being met, as their participation
rates are around 87%.  Beyond that, men need to learn the following and the
following things need to be done:

1.  They are not being discriminated on this list.  Women have not said men
suck, men should die, men aren't needed, Wikipedia would be better off with
out men, men don't have anything to offer.  Men are not being discriminated
against.  When men on this say this or imply this, they create an
environment on a list dedicated to getting women involved that runs counter
to the list's mission.

2.  Men need to realize that if they are present on the list, they are here
to learn.  It runs counter to the group's mission of decreasing the
gendergap when men operate from a place of privilege.  This means, men need
to stop saying gender doesn't matter and women should get over it.  (If that
was the case, this list wouldn't exist.  If that was the case, we'd have gay
marriage.  If this was the case, the media wouldn't care about the low rates
of female participation rates.)  The whole conversation started with a
discussion aimed at women on the list about the problems created by some
participants. The men on the list, rather than say: Huh, I never considered
that women might feel that way... immediately jumped on the bandwagon to say
WE ARE BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST.  I DO NOT UNDERSTAND, NOR DO I ACCEPT
THE OPINION OF WOMEN.  ALSO, GET OVER YOURSELF.  If men are really here to
learn, as people like Fred and others have said, they learn by listening.
They learn by asking questions.  They do not learn by telling women that
they are wrong.   (Which is what the dogpile of men crying discrimination
was and hurt the list's credibility and the list's mission.)

3.  Men need to realize that if this list is to be successful, they need to
recruit women. People of all genders need to reach out to women and
encourage them to join.  This list is fundamentally about decreasing the
gendergap.  The only way the gendergap will decrease is if women get
involved.  If men need to stay (because they feel discriminated against and
those icky women need to learn to work with men because that's what is best
for them and the only way that men feel increasing participation rates will
increase), then they need to go out and encourage every woman they know to
join the list, encourage them to talk about why they do or don't edit
Wikipedia, and then encourage these new women that they've recruited to
recruit more of their female acquaintences to join.

4.  Men need to realize that for this movement to work, women's needs need
to be prioritized above their own.  If you feel discriminated against, it is
understandable... but your feelings of being discriminated against are
irrelevant in this context.  This list is not titled "teachingmen" or
"makingmenfeelgoodaboutwomen".  The purpose of this list is not to create
dialog to teach men about gender issues.  If men on this list genuinely want
to learn, there are plenty of resources available on the Internet (or
resources that could be created on Wikiversity) to teach men about
feminism.  This list is not about men's needs.  In the context of this list,
men's needs as man need to be made secondary.

5.  Men need to ask themselves: What are the public relations implications
of my statements regarding female participation rates on Wikipedia?  Erik's
comment saying we need a male and female moderator is a nightmare.  How
would this go over on a feminist blog?  Like a bag of stones.  (In this
case, probably with Erik's body and tossed overboard by feminists.)
Michael's comment saying women need to act like men, and that the only way
for women to participate on Wikipedia is to act like men (which is exactly
how his comment of WOMEN SHOULD ACT LIKE PEOPLE reads.  Pretend that Michael
was white.  Then pretend that Michael said that African Americans or
Aboriginals could participate correctly if they stopped acting like African
Americans or Aboriginals and instead acted like people, RE: WHITE PEOPLE WHO
ARE THE DOMINANT GROUP.)

There are some very well meaning guys on this list.  I've chatted with them
on G!Talk and IRC.  They are very emphatic with the position of women,
realizing that women have these issues.  They've been watching, reading and
learning quietly.  They've been offering support offlist for projects.

The vocal men on the list are not learning these things.  The adminstrators
are not stepping in and correcting sexists comments. The list has stopped
being about decreasing the gendergap and instead become about addressing
men's needs or general needs that are not specific to women.  If these men
on the list can't be quiet, can't stop insisting that they are being
discriminated against, can't start helping by quietly going about their
business of helping when asked...

... then this list is a failure.



-- 
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