Why Don't More Women Contribute to Wikipedia?

To most people, Wikipedia represents the ultimate in egalitarian encyclopedias. It's a place where any Internet user can go to add their own knowledge on virtually any subject in the world, regardless of individual expertise or background. But recent statistics show that, in spite of its intrinsic openness, Wikipedia's playing ground may not be as level as it seems -- especially when it comes to gender.

Last year, the Wikimedia Foundation released a survey showing that just 13-percent of Wikipedia's contributors were female. The study, conducted by a collaborative center at the United Nations University and Maastricht University, inspired Wikimedia executive director Sue Gardner (pictured above) to launch new efforts to raise that figure to 25-percent by the year 2015 -- not as a part of some larger, principle-driven campaign, but for the sake of Wikipedia's quality. "This is about wanting to ensure that the encyclopedia is as good as it could be," Gardner told the New York Times. "The difference between Wikipedia and other editorially created products is that Wikipedians are not professionals, they are only asked to bring what they know."

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Why Don't More Women Contribute to Wikipedia? originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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