Only 9% of Wikipedia editors are women : Study

Wikipedia-report-2012

Wikipedia balance slightly off target?

According to a new study, Wikipedia, the world's largest online Encyclopedia has 17 million editors, but only 9% are women.

Wikipedia is not just a platform to allow people to contribute to a wide range of topics, it's also widely used as a tool in the entertainment industry by publishers to gather supporting facts and biographical details on individuals. On top of that, the information on Wikipedia is often quoted and used as a source to provide readers with added 'value' and specific details. Many of the top media brands, celebrities and industry icons have well maintained pages that are constantly updated. Lots of editors contribute to a wide variety of pages, and their work is highly regarded.

However, with so many male editors accounting for 91% of all content writers according to this report on Mashable, is it not time to ask "why are there so few female writers?"

Is it just a fact that female writers are less inclined to participate or is there another factor that we don't know about? After all, with a ratio like that, surely there must be some bias in the content that we read? I find it hard to believe that women would not want to participate in this platform, unless there was a strong reason discouraging them from doing so.

Wikipedia

  • Readers : 50% Male /50% Female
  • 15.5 million male editors
  • 1.5 million female editors
  • 10.7% of 'People' pages written by women
  • 10.4% of 'Arts' pages written by women

Source Knock Twice

film industry network members