Welcome to the gender gap task force (GGTF), one of the task forces of WikiProject Countering systemic bias. The GGTF was started in 2013 to address some of the problems women face on Wikipedia, whether as editors or article subjects. If you'd like to help, please add your name to the list of participants.
According to New York Magazine in 2014, "Wikipedia famously bears one of the starkest gender gaps in contemporary culture."[1] Wikipedia "shares many characteristics with the hard-driving hacker crowd", according to Joseph Reagle of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and is "open to very difficult, high-conflict people, even misogynists".[2] Estimates of Wikipedians who are female have ranged from 8.5 in 2011 to 16.1 percent in 2013.[3][4]
Issues that discourage women from editing include a perception of Wikipedia as sexist; a lack of confidence and spare time; problems with the editing interface; the belief that editing is tedious; unease because of the inclusion of pornography; and fewer opportunities to develop social relationships than on other websites.[1][5][6] Despite significant evidence to the contrary, certain commentators have denied that the gender gap is a problem, citing efforts to highlight it as "feminist ideology."[7]
There you can coordinate with editors who are addressing the effect of the gender gap on women on Wikipedia – whether as article subjects, editors or readers. If you would like to help, please sign up or visit the talk page.
Happy editing, ~~~~
Mind the Gap Award For those who've done a great job. Paste the following template, with your own message, to the recipient's talk page: {{subst:Mind the Gap Award|1=Add your message here. ~~~~}}
Write essays on the problems women editors face, how Wikipedia's dispute-resolution processes can be improved. Consider ideas from this "geek feminism" page on working with men.
Ensure that categories are used in accordance with the guideline above. (There is a main Category:Women, and thousands of categories with "women" or "female" in their titles.)
