[Wikipedia-l] The New Yorker on Wikipedia

Mon Jul 24 22:05:39 UTC 2006

Brianna Laugher wrote:
> On 24/07/06, Dirk Riehle <dirk at riehle.org> wrote:
>> The observation itself I find interesting. Would you agree or
>> disagree that the number of leading women in Wikipedia is
>> disproportionaly larger in comparison to the overall Wikipedia
>> contributor population?
> 
> First you have to agree on a definition of a contributor. Having a
> username? Having at least one edit? Or at least 50, 100, 500? (So,
> count anons?) Having some level of community interaction beyond
> OrphanBot warnings?

Speaking at a very high level of generality, and noting that questions
of definition are important, and acknowledging that I have no good clear
definition in mind...

It is my anecdotal sense based on wikipedia meetups and interactions
online that about 80% of Wikipedians are male, that this number is
better than most free software projects, but worse than I think most of
us would like, and that the leadership of the projects tends to be much
more heavily female than the averages would suggest.

We have many strong female leaders in various projects.  I leave it to
others to speculate why this might be. :)

--Jimbo