Hearing Women’s Voices

Jane Margolis

Jane Margolis is a senior researcher at the Institute for Democracy, Education and Access at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the co-author of “Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing" and author of "Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing."

Updated February 4, 2011, 12:56 PM

When I first heard about the low numbers of female contributors to Wikipedia, I was rather shocked, a reaction I'm embarrassed to admit. If I had thought much about Wikipedia's roots, I would not have been surprised, but I had never thought to make an entry and knew little about Wikipedia's process and internal culture. On reflection, a wave of "been there, done that" came over me. It's clear that the online world would mirror the real world.

First, determine why the cultural norms of the community discourage women's participation.

Others I talked to about this news had similar responses along these lines: of course this would be the case --- despite the fact that many women love to argue, debate, write provocative books, there are still too many women who lack sufficient confidence to think that they are expert enough to define a subject. We see this in the low number of women in the “real world” who submit to the traditional media Op-Ed pages.

But, why do these low numbers even matter? I believe the answer is two-fold: It matters for the individuals who want to participate, but are made to feel unwelcomed along the way. And, it matters for the larger society that needs women’s full participation. In a particularly poignant example from the world of technology, the early voice answering systems were calibrated to male voices, and as a result women’s voices were literally unheard. Similarly, in early voice conferencing systems, where the camera focused on the speaker, the participation of women was not captured. Early air bags and heart valves, also designed by males, did not work for women.

So, the question is what should Wikipedia do about its gender gap? I applaud efforts by Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikipedia Foundation, to initiate dialogue about how and why this happened. I would urge those in Wikipedia who care about this issue to learn from scholars who study language socialization and how discursive norms are a critical factor in any dominant group maintaining its control. How does women’s participation get encouraged or discouraged? What are the cultural norms of the community that extinguish women’s participation? I would encourage Wikipedia members to read some of the language and gender classics, including Robin Lakoff’s "Language and Women’s Place."

One of Wikipedia’s five fundamental principles is to have a “neutral point of view.” I am sure that the predominately male developers of the early voice answering systems, air bags, and heart valves felt the same way. But, in reality, they were missing women’s perspectives and presence. As a result their innovations were not “neutral” at all.

Topics: Internet, Technology, Wikipedia, women

Where Are the Women in Wikipedia?
