On 12/14/2011 7:08 PM, Bjoern Hoehrmann wrote:
You are comparing a global project to build an encyclopedia with media
for self-expression and communication. There are gender gaps in other
areas. Lego for instance, where you build things from little bricks, in
computing where people build information systems, in architecture where
people build buildings, in civil engineering where people build bridges
and dams, in construction, in production, where you also build things,
and also in maintenance where people keep things once built in a con-
dition so they keep performing the functions they were built for. This
varies across regions but the trend is fairly consistent.
The Internet does not really matter here, other online projects where
people build things also suffer from low female participation. I make
open source software, very few women there, I make web standards, help
design and define the technology that enable things like Wikipedia, you
don't get to see many women there either, I follow the Demoscene, a
competitive computer art sub-culture where men compete on who makes the
best animations, computer graphics, digital music, and so forth, and
when you spot a woman there it's probably a girlfriend. Female parti-
cipation increases as you move towards individual self-expression, say
creating fan-artwork, or as you mention blogs and social media, I'd
suppose product reviews, general talk forums and chats, and so on.
When it comes to making real changes in the real world and building real
things,
males tend to be more possessive and territorial and competitive and
play far
rougher than females prefer; and far rougher than they do with males cause
they don't want to be bested by a female. But they will just ignore the more
expressive areas since that's not a competitive thing...
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