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Wikipedia contributors: 87% men, 13% women (pg. 3)
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| D-res |
| quote: | Originally posted by Clearly Not JBJ
Women and men use the Internet in pretty similar numbers, so that can't be the cause of this huge gender gap. So, what is? Are men simply more confident in their opinions, so they are more likely to try and put them in an encyclopedia? Do they have more free time to do "leisure" net activities like edit Wikipedia? Some other factor? |
Wikipedia doesn't include a shopping mall and/or discounts on coach bags for contributing. |
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| Theresa |
I had a suspicion that this thread would degenerate into misogynistic comments.
I think Lira is onto something. Most women aren't brought up being told to achieve academic success or to seek intelligence. They are told to act nice, behave, look pretty, and get married. Parents put money away for their son's "college funds", and for their daughter's "wedding day". It sends out a clear message that men are meant to be the academic achiever and women are meant to be the traditional homemaker.
However, thankfully there are more and more women who are rejecting this, but I would argue that contributing to Wikipedia is the least of their concerns. A lot of women are juggling both the academic/economic achiever role and the homemaker role at the same time. This doesn't leave a lot of time to post on Wikipedia.
Women are going through a major transition in roles. Our mothers and grandmothers come from generations where being nothing but a perfect little doll-like housewife and a mother was the norm and expected. These beliefs and values are going to trickle down and it still heavily exists in our media. With that being said, many women are still more concerned with fashion, make-up, finding "prince charming" and having babies than learning and sharing knowledge.
Of course, this is all conjecture, but I think I have some valid points. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Theresa
I think Lira is onto something. Most women aren't brought up being told to achieve academic success or to seek intelligence. They are told to act nice, behave, look pretty, and get married. Parents put money away for their son's "college funds", and for their daughter's "wedding day". It sends out a clear message that men are meant to be the academic achiever and women are meant to be the traditional homemaker. |
Exactly, and let's face it: once you're taught you just need to stay there and be bonked, why bother doing anything to show off and swoon the opposite sex?! |
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| -FSP- |
Don't women tend to study a given subject for helping people? Isn't there a whole lot of women who are undergrad biology majors? Maybe it's because they want to help people or something as biology seems like a good pre-med major, while men pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Let's face it: many articles on wikipedia are of completely "stupid" stuff.
Let's not forget the stereotypes of guys who are on the computer all day: http://www.physorg.com/news180024084.html
the reason why women don't participate in wikipedia might be the same reason for why there aren't many of them in computer science. |
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| Theresa |
| quote: | Originally posted by -FSP-
Don't women tend to study a given subject for helping people? Isn't there a whole lot of women who are undergrad biology majors? Maybe it's because they want to help people or something as biology seems like a good pre-med major, while men pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Let's face it: many articles on wikipedia are completely "stupid" stuff.
Let's not forget the stereotypes of guys who are on the computer all day: http://www.physorg.com/news180024084.html
the reason why women don't participate in wikipedia might be the same reason for why there aren't many of them in computer science. |
There is a massive debate about what is causing women to flood into "care taking" career choices. Why are there so many more women enrolled in nursing, education, etc. than men? It might be because of their socialization that they are meant to be caretakers, or maybe women are innately driven to care for others... maybe a little bit of both.
I don't think men necessarily pursue knowledge just for the sake of it. Men too are socialized in believing that they are supposed to be the bread-winner, and in order to successfully do that in this day and age, you need to have a good education. There are also studies that show that men are encouraged academically more than women, both at home and in school. It is often ignored when boys are acting rowdy and being loud in classes, but are praised for being studious. Girls on the other hand are chastised for being rowdy and loud, but also don't typically get much praise for being studious.
Socialization certainly has a hell of a lot to do with it.
Availability may also be a contributor. Someone mentioned that the use of internet between males and females is roughly the same, but does that include the amount of time spent online? Do men spend more time online than women? If the women are the ones cooking, cleaning and taking care of the kids after being at work all day, chances are, they really don't have a lot of spare time. I know from seeing it myself that a lot of guys will sit at their computers ing around while their wives are taking care of household . |
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| Trance Nutter |
| quote: | Originally posted by Theresa
the use of internet between males and females is roughly the same, but does that include the amount of time spent online? |
huh? |
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| Theresa |
| quote: | Originally posted by Trance Nutter
huh? |
Amount of people who participate in something ≠ the same amount of time participating in something.
Just because all people take s doesn't mean all people spend an hour sitting on the toilet every time they do. |
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| Trance Nutter |
| ah gotcha. I read "use of internet" as amount used, not number of users. My mistake. |
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| Theresa |
| quote: | Originally posted by Trance Nutter
ah gotcha. I read "use of internet" as amount used, not number of users. My mistake. |
Yea, I realized the way I worded left room for misunderstanding. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Theresa
Amount of people who participate in something ≠ the same amount of time participating in something. |
And that reminds me of something: Does anyone know who uses Facebook more frequently? Stereotypes aside, aren't girls more likely to be community-driven whereas guys are more individualistic? |
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| Theresa |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
And that reminds me of something: Does anyone know who uses Facebook more frequently? Stereotypes aside, aren't girls more likely to be community-driven whereas guys are more individualistic? |
54.03% female
42.54% male
3.44% undefined
Even if all the undefined were male, there is still a significant difference.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=418555961065
Edit:
That is 18+ United States users. |
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| Lira |
Maybe that explains a little the difference. If Wikipedia were a cosy community where you could bond with other users, not only it would attract more girls but it would solve loads of problems there! |
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