The article says Wikipedia has a bias, so I clicked the link it gives and:
Wikipedia’s content is written and maintained by volunteers who can only cite material that already exists in other published sources, since the platform prohibits original research. This rule, which is designed to ensure that facts can be verified, means that Wikipedia’s coverage inevitably reflects the biases of the media, academia and other institutions it draws from.
This is not limited to political bias. For example, research has repeatedly shown a significant gender imbalance among editors, with around 80%–90% identifying as male in the English-language version.
Because most of the secondary sources used by editors are also historically authored by men, Wikipedia tends to reflect a narrower view of the world, a repository of men’s knowledge rather than a balanced record of human knowledge.
I’m curious what the gender breakdown is in other languages, particularly those corresponding to cultures where women are more prevalent in STEM fields.
Sounds like you’ve identified why there isn’t a simple solution.
Same reason there isn’t often a simple solution to equal representation in anything. Maybe women aren’t interested because they don’t know about it, because they don’t feel welcome or because they aren’t interested. But maybe they aren’t interested because they were raised in a society that didn’t encourage women to do that kind of thing with their time.
Generating a truely equal experience so that everyone feels able to explore whatever they want with their time is very hard and will probably never be achieved but encouraging under represented groups can help overcome societal biases and barriers.
The article says Wikipedia has a bias, so I clicked the link it gives and:
I’m curious what the gender breakdown is in other languages, particularly those corresponding to cultures where women are more prevalent in STEM fields.
That problem would seem to have an obvious and straightforward solution.
…what would that be? how do you encourage women to volunteer to edit wikipedia?
Forced sex change for 30% - 40% of Wikipedia editors, duh
Why can’t they encourage themselves? Women aren’t helpless maidens in distress who need men to save them from every problem.
Sounds like you’ve identified why there isn’t a simple solution.
Same reason there isn’t often a simple solution to equal representation in anything. Maybe women aren’t interested because they don’t know about it, because they don’t feel welcome or because they aren’t interested. But maybe they aren’t interested because they were raised in a society that didn’t encourage women to do that kind of thing with their time.
Generating a truely equal experience so that everyone feels able to explore whatever they want with their time is very hard and will probably never be achieved but encouraging under represented groups can help overcome societal biases and barriers.