In the next two weeks, candidates will be nominating themselves to become
stewards. Right now, of 31 stewards, only one self-identifies as a woman.
There was a point in time where this ratio was much higher (I can think of
several other women from around the world who have fulfilled this role),
but in recent years the majority of new stewards have come from the group
of global administrators and vandal-fighters, with those who vote tending
to focus on those "skills". History of leadership and stewardship (in the
true sense of the word), once valued, has come to be a genuine challenge
for new candidates, particularly if they've upset someone along the way.
There is now a more common focus on contributions across a broad array of
projects (whether or not the user can communicate in the language of the
project). The overwhelming majority of stewards today come from European
countries.
I draw this to your attention because it would be good to see a much more
diverse group of stewards in the future. Although many stewards will say
that the role has little authority and power, that it is only intended to
act on the requests of various communities, the facts are quite different.
Right now, stewards are playing *the* crucial role in determining which of
several users with the same username will get to keep that name globally,
for example.
So....some of you may want to consider a candidacy (I can think of a few on
this list who stand a good chance of success). And all of us should
seriously consider participating actively in these elections[1] and the
annual review of current stewards [2] that happens concurrently.
Risker/Anne
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/Elections_2015
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/Confirm/2015