On 7 June 2014 13:27, Fæ faewik@gmail.com wrote:
On 07/06/2014, Pharos pharosofalexandria@gmail.com wrote: ...
This was an entirely volunteer-run conference.
Thanks Pharos. My question was about proportions of attendees being women or employees, rather than who organized it. I should have avoided the subsequent comment, as that appears to have taken us on a tangent (by the way, I think paying someone to help project manage conferences is an excellent use of donated funds, it is the sort of thing that is likely to cause volunteer stress and burn-out).
Aude's email (Sat Jun 7 16:12:35 UTC 2014) has confirmed that at least one attendee was an employee, so the answer to that question cannot be zero.
Hold on....so now you are saying that someone employed by a WMF chapter or the WMF itself will never be allowed to be considered anything other than an employee? Fae, if they're paying their own way, they are there as volunteers, not employees. If they have not been directed to attend by their employer, they are volunteers. Not everyone does everything for work-related purposes, and a very significant proportion of Wikimedians who work for a chapter or the WMF also make volunteer contributions in many ways to WMF projects. This is a good thing, and shouldn't result in them being slammed for attending Wikimedia-related events on their own time spending their own money, as the nature of the question implies. If they didn't register as "employee of Chapter xx" or "employee of WMF", and their employer hasn't paid for their registration, there is absolutely no reason for them to be considered "employees" during their attendance.
I do not believe that gender is a mandatory question on any registrations for any WMF projects, and I question whether or not it's an appropriate one unless there is some specific reason to ask (e.g., accommodation arrangements). Therefore, there is no accurate method to assess the number of women who attended.
Risker/Anne