[WikiEN-l] Systemic bias wrt gender
niht-hræfn
nihthraefn at gmail.com
Tue Nov 21 23:28:40 UTC 2006
The recent thread on the low numbers of women applying for ArbCom and
subsequent discussion about systemic bias and under-representation of
women has led me to wonder about the nature of gender-related
systemic bias on the English Wikipedia. As far as "gender is
irrelevant" goes, this is simply not true. Gender of editors really
does matter as far as coverage and quality thereof goes. Most of the
women I know spend one or two hours in the morning with a
straightening iron and a blow dryer. Wikipedia has http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowdryer and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hair_iron . These two articles are considerably out of date and do
not begin to encompass the complexities of these appliances (and
there is not even separate articles for straightening irons and
curling irons!). Compare to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television , the two appliances I have
known men to use most. Or even to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Microwave_oven and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator . Or to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor . The bias is there.
My question is not "Does systemic bias exist?" but rather "Where is
systemic bias hurting us most?" From a coverage standpoint, we have
vast comprehensive articles on sports of all kinds, but our ballet
articles make me weep inside (I've just started a Ballet WikiProject
to address this, but had been too intimidated to do so since first
reading/editing until I met another female ballet dancer on wiki).
However, how does this compare to the way policy is formed and
implemented? Is an unequal ratio of men to women affecting the way we
run things? Is it negatively impacting the structure of the
encyclopedia? Is it proceeding in this way such that men find it
easier to join and women do not? What is suffering the most from this
bias, and are there ways to better receive the input of those who
would otherwise not be heard?
As far as women reading the mailing list, I know that there are
plenty who do (like myself), but do not discuss much. I know that I
also read more than I edit, perhaps this is the case with more
females than just myself?
Food for thought. :]
--Keitei
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keitei
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