Gender gap

...and while you're at it, don't forget to mind the gap!

There is a gender gap in Wikipedia and the other projects in the Wikimedia movement. This page exists to help store information, ideas, and to catalog projects that are trying to close that gap.

Read

This is a list of some of the most important media, essays, and viewpoints that have been published recently about the gender gap.

• Unlocking the Clubhouse: Five ways to encourage women to edit Wikipedia, Sue Gardner's Blog, November 14, 2010.
• Gender Gap? Look Up Wikipedia’s Contributor List, Noam Cohen in the New York Times, January 30, 2011.
• Where Are the Women in Wikipedia? Debate with a number of debaters, New York Times, February 2, 2011.
• Wikipedia(EN) Signpost Issue on Gender Gap, February 7, 2011.
• Top 10 Reasons to Encourage more Women Participation in Wikipedia here on Meta, February 8, 2011.
• Nine Reasons Women Don’t Edit Wikipedia (in their own words), Sue Gardner's Blog, February 19, 2011.
• Gender Gap Manifesto

Research

The initial research that increased attention on this issue was from a UNU survey, the results of which can be viewed and downloaded at wikipediasurvey.org. However, like all surveys where who responds is self-selected, it was biased towards certain types of demographics, and it gives us only a rough working idea of how big the gender gap is.

While we discuss practical projects for inviting women to edit (see the section below), we should think about how measuring the gender gap accurately can be done. We should also collect some anecdotal stories about why women leave Wikipedia or never join to begin with, as a way of showing people what the gender gap feels like on a more personal level.

Discuss

The gender gap mailing list is the best place to talk about this with other people who are interested and can help. Started on January 31st, 2011, it has a mix of longtime Wikimedians and people from other fields who arrived through their interest in the subject, so it's helpful to introduce yourself in your first post.

Since this is a sensitive topic, the mailing list has a simple code of conduct. The basic gist is: please be considerate and constructive. That means ...

• No personal attacks
• Try to stay on topic and take other things off-list
• Try to turn fighting into constructive discussion, or disengage/take it off-list
• Help guide discussion toward concrete action
• Be aware that using an aggressive or argumentative tone (or even just posting too much) can discourage people from participating

Take action

You don't have to join the mailing list or read the recent press to help correct the gender gap. You don't need to have edited before either! If you're interested, the following projects need the help of women and men alike to be successful, so don't be shy about joining in.

Resources within Wikimedia communities

• Check out the list of proposals for more female editors. A lot these come from the mailing list, and you can add more.
• Outreach Village Pump is a good place to discuss outreach to women.
• Draft letter(s) for outreach to women friends and networks.
• Workshop for Women in Wikipedia. Originated by Indian Wikipedians project now suggests workshop content and provides a list of past related workshops, as well as a list of Wikipedia editors who have conducted and/or will conduct workshops for women interested in editing Wikipedia. Part of Wikipedia Workshop.
• en:Wikipedia:Teahouse, which helps new editors become accustomed to community culture, ask questions, and develop community relationships, was especially created with women in mind.

Projects within Wikimedia communities

• WikiProject Feminism and WikiProject Women's History on English Wikipedia.
• Wikiproyecto:Feminismo in Spanish
• es:Wikiproyecto:Ciencia,_Tecnología_y_Género in Spanish
• Projet:Femmes in French
• Wikiprojekt:Gender Studies in Polish
• Wikipedia:Projekt kvinnor in Swedish
• Wikipedia for kvinder in Danish
• Women on Wikipedia Month 2011 events for March and International Women's Day
• WikiWomen's History Month ongoing project
• Wikimedia WikiWomenCamp May 2012 event in Buenos Aires
• NY Wiki Chics, a New York outreach project by Wikimedians

Related projects in other communities

These will have useful information, but aren't necessarily organized by or run for Wikimedia communities.

• Wikipedia Women, a Facebook page
• Geek Feminism Wiki, a Wikia site
• GeekFeminism, a blog
• The Ada Initiative, a non-profit working to increase participation of women in open technology and culture