[WikiEN-l] Systemic bias wrt gender

Wed Nov 22 17:49:52 UTC 2006

> It is a complex situation, and I think a little off topic. I don't know 
> if there is anything here which will illuminate the gender bias and/or 
> gender gap which we have on Wikipedia, or give insight as to how to 
> approach better balance. Does any of this cause women to value 
> themselves less? Do they do "cleanup" because they're used to it? 

Do they, in fact, do more than their share of the "cleanup" here? The gender
roles around here might not be what we expect.

> Do they shy away from ArbCom or B'crat because they are 
> non-confrontational? due to gender differences, or societal expectations 
> (Pavlovian training)? 

Is the gender ratio of b'crats or arbitrarors more male-biased than the gender
ratio of sysops? Of course it's not easy to determine gender from username, but
from a casual inspection of the lists, there don't seem to be that many female
sysops to begin with. If that's right, there's a glass ceiling at or before RfA
anyway.

Is the gender ratio of sysops different from the gender ratio of all RfA
candidates? Should be easy to do a casual inspection at least. 

Exercise for the reader.

Is the gender ratio of RfA candidates different than the ratio of regulars?
Regulars versus casual users? Are female administrators more
non-confrontational? Don't know. 

Exercise for the masochistic reader. 

> The email which started this thread talked about
> "women's subjects" such as blow dryers and curling irons, and that was
> written by a female, yes? That's horrifying to me.

Maybe because chihuahuas hardly have any hair at all?

Dan