User:GRuban/Gender Gap

Attempting to answer a question asked on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countering systemic bias/Gender gap task force - Do women write about women? Let's see. Here is Featured articles and the name of the editor who nominated each for FA, with (apparent) gender of each, determined either by name, or user preferences via Template:he or she, where set.


 * , male; User:Scartol, male. (Eric S. Piotrowski)
 * , male; User: Chick Bowen, male (he or she)
 * , female; User: Christine (Figureskatingfan), female (he or she)
 * , female; User:Filiocht, no guess (he or she)
 * , male; User:Jeffpw, male
 * , male; User:Scartol, male.
 * , female; User:Moni3, female (he or she)
 * , female; User:Awadewit, female (Adrianne Wadewitz, R.I.P.)
 * , female; User:Celithemis, no guess (he or she)
 * , female; User:Eric Corbett, male
 * , male; User:Daniel.odonnell, male
 * , male; User:Brianboulton, male
 * , female; User:Ragesoss, male
 * , male; User:Qp10qp, no guess (he or she)
 * , male; User:Geogre, male
 * , male; User:Brianboulton, male
 * , male; User:Ssilvers, no guess (he or she)
 * , male; User:Yllosubmarine, female (María)
 * , male; User:PRiis, male (Peter Riis)
 * , female; User:Yllosubmarine, female
 * , male; User:Markalexander100, aka User:Henry Flower, male
 * , male; User:Ottava Rima, male (called "he" on his ban appeal)
 * , male; User:Truthkeeper88 aka User:Victoriaearle, female
 * , female; User:JayHenry, male
 * , male; User:SchroCat, male (user page)
 * 1) Stella Gibbons, female; User:Brianboulton, male
 * , male; User:Skomorokh, no guess (he or she)
 * , male; User:Vanished User, male (long story ... you can find the original username with a bit of work)
 * , male; User:Cassianto, male (he or she)
 * , male; User:Midnightdreary, male (userbox)
 * , male; User:Jacklee, male
 * 1) Amir Hamzah, male; User:Crisco 1492, male (he or she)
 * , female; User:Filiocht, no guess (he or she)
 * , male; User:Truthkeeper88 aka User:Victoriaearle, female
 * , male; User:Curly Turkey, male (user page)
 * , female; User:Karanacs, female (Karen)
 * , male; User:Cassianto, male
 * , male; User:Midnightdreary, male
 * 1) E. W. Hornung, male; User:SchroCat, male
 * 2) Israel the Grammarian, male; User:Dudley Miles, male
 * , male; User:Awadewit, female
 * , male; User:Ottava Rima, male
 * , male; User:Filiocht, no guess
 * , male; User:PumpkinSky, male (he or she)
 * , male; User:Jappalang, male (userbox)
 * , male; User:SchroCat, male
 * , male; User:Cassianto, male
 * , male; User:Cassianto, male
 * 1) Little Tich, male; User:Cassianto, male
 * , female; User:Cassianto, male
 * 1) James Russell Lowell, male; User:Midnightdreary, male
 * , male; User:Angmering, male (Paul)
 * , male; User:SchroCat, male
 * , male; User:BillDeanCarter, male
 * 1) Olivia Manning, female; User:Slp1, female (user page)
 * , male; User:Bryan P. C. C., male
 * , male; User:Dulcem, no guess (he or she)
 * , female; User:Brianboulton, male
 * , male; User:Filiocht, no guess
 * 1) George Robey, male; User:Cassianto, male
 * , female; User:Truthkeeper88 aka User:Victoriaearle, female
 * , female; User:Eagle Owl, male (userbox)
 * , male; User:Eubulides, no guess (he or she)
 * , male; User:Jezhotwells, male (he or she)
 * , male; User:Raul654, male (probably renominating for User:Midnightdreary, male)
 * , female; User:Midnightdreary, male
 * 1) Ezra Pound, male; User:Victoriaearle, female
 * , female; User:Ricardiana, female (he or she)
 * 1) Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, male; User:Lemurbaby, female (user page)
 * , male; User:Eurocopter, male (he or she)
 * , female; User:Awadewit, female
 * , male; User:Brianboulton, male
 * 1) Ralph Richardson, male; User:Tim riley, male
 * , female; User:Serendipodous, male (he or she)
 * , female; User:Truthkeeper88, female
 * , male; User:Qp10qp, no guess
 * , female; User:Awadewit, female
 * , female; User:Awadewit, female
 * , male; User:Ottava Rima, male
 * , male; User:Filiocht, no guess
 * , male; User:Saravask, male (he or she)
 * , male; User:Judgesurreal777, male (user page/about me)
 * , female; User:Awadewit, female
 * , male; User:Jbmurray, male (Jon Beasley-Murray)
 * 1) Hugh Walpole, male; User:Tim riley, male
 * , male; User:Brianboulton, male
 * , male; User:Midnightdreary, male
 * , female; User:Kaldari, male (Ryan Kaldari)
 * , male; User:Filiocht, no guess

Male editors nominated 47 male subject articles, and 10 female subject articles.

Female editors nominated 13 female subject articles, and 6 male subject articles.

Undetermined editors nominated 3 female subject articles and 10 male subject articles.

It looks like female editors nominate considerably more articles about female subjects, while male (and undetermined) editors nominate considerably more articles about male subjects. --GRuban (talk) 02:20, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

2021
Towards the end of last year, discussing a Wikipedia Signpost essay on articles about women, User:Jason Quinn asked an important question:
 * When the topic of gender bias comes up and people mention the "gender gap" and how "only 18%" of our articles are about women, it begs the question be asked, "What percentage should it be?" A kneejerk reaction might suggest 50%... but that can't be right since society HAS been severely biased against women, especially pre-1900 as this article states. Historically (and still currently in many places) women simply were expected to be more domestic which kept them from being in positions where they could do something encyclopedic. Given that that is true, it makes no sense to expect 50% of our articles to be about women. So what percentage should it be?

He was, broadly speaking, shot down for being a troll, but there is something to be said for having a goal to aim for. I recently realized this study can be used as a first approximation for that.

Specifically, in the figures above, male editors had 82% of their article nominations about male subjects, female editors had 68% about female subjects, and undetermined gender editors had 77% about male subjects. The total is 63 male subject articles, and 26 female subject articles, 71% male, 29% female subjects (already better than the 18% Jason writes about). However, we can extrapolate that if we had an equal number of male and female featured article nominators, we would have 57% articles about male subjects, 43% articles about female subjects. That is the difference that is the result of the editor gender gap. That can be our goal. There are caveats, of course, this only looked at featured article nominations, only 89 of those, way back in 2014, maybe the reason female editors nominated so many female subjects was specifically part of an effort to correct the gender gap, etc. But, I humbly submit, it's a good first order approximation. --GRuban (talk) 17:41, 15 July 2021 (UTC)