Wikipedia: Men Re-Write History & Women Watch It Happen

by Jen Nedeau · 2009-04-30 19:53:00 UTC
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Wikipedia guru, William Beutler, shared this just-released survey from the Wikimedia Foundation and United Nations University. More than 130,000 Wikipedia readers and contributors completed the extensive survey questionnaire (out of more than 300,000 people total who took at least part of the questionnaire).*

Beyond the intricate ecosystem of Wikipedia that never ceases to amaze me, one thing that Bill shared, which startled me, but you also might find interesting, are these statistics on gender:

  • Readers and contributors are on average in their mid-twenties, and predominantly male (75%)

  • Women, with a share of 25% in all respondents, are more strongly represented among readers (32%) and less strongly represented among contributors (13%).

Additionally, the overview section on Gender states:

Though both groups are dominated by men, there are significant differences in the gender composition of readers and contributors of Wikipedia. Contributors show a substantially larger share of males than readers.

Hmm - it seems that we have yet another online example where women are not feeling very welcome to share their ideas, their voice and their intellect. Wikipedia is a naturally contentious site and while I'm sure not everyone - male or female - enjoys an online edit war, it is yet another example of how male dominated the internet space has become. I'm not suggesting there is anyone to blame for this gender discrepancy, but just as the Second Wavers fought for more voices on the Op-Ed pages of major newspapers - it is just as important to have the female perspective of history on sites like Wikipedia that inform millions of people everyday on history, pop culture, politics and geography.

I would encourage women to talk about what might be holding them back from contributing to Wikipedia and sharing their expertise; it's about time we feel comfortable expressing our opinions and facts - it's not 1963 anymore, I would hope that we've surpassed the burden of the feminine mystique. Don't let just men re-write history while women sit back and watch - it's time to get involved in the online space and help build the future of knowledge and technology.

Jen Nedeau Jen Nedeau is a media relations professional and a writer based in New York City.
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