Talk:Gender equity report 2018/Barriers to equity

I have read through the report, with particular attention to the Barriers to Equity section, but could find only one concrete example of how Wikipedia policies/guidelines hinder equity. Rather, interviewees made sweeping statements criticizing the rules, such as, "Notability is a challenge when you are doing any wiki work because of the way it’s structured, it’s geared towards the white male perspective." I found only one example of specific criticism of a Guideline: "Some people who nominate an article for deletion believe that an 18th-century woman needs multiple references to show notability."

In the Barriers section, the following opinion was quoted: "There is a dogmatic view on Neutrality, Notability, and Reliability. Wiki’s organizing policies are principles of the minority of the world--white men sitting in North America and Europe. So whenever anyone challenges these, those organizing principles are thrown back at us as weapons of mass oppression."

I think it is likely true that Wikipedia's Policies and Guideliness have been written mostly by white men in North America and Europe. What is missing from this report's Barriers section--and I think from the report as a whole--are specific examples of how the policies/guidelines work against gender equity. Instead, what I see is broad-brush criticism of perceived white male privilege:

"Male-defined"
"history is mainly written by white men"
"white men sitting in North America and Europe"
"geared towards the white male perspective"

I'm not arguing against those perspectives. What I'm pointing out is that accusations like those don't identify specific examples of perceived bias in the actual policies/guidelines that determine whether Wikipedia articles should be deleted or kept.

I think it is probably true that, among many Wikipedia editors, "There is a dogmatic view on Neutrality, Notability, and Reliability," as quoted in the Barriers section. This, despite another Wikipedia policy, IAR (Ignore All Rules). Nevertheless, the accusation of dogmatism about the rules does not address, in specifics, how the rules are structured to disfavor gender equity.

A discussion in which I have participated prompted by the Gender report is underway on the Talk page of the Notability guideline in the English Wikipedia. en:user:DonFB 1:20pm UTC 9-30-18

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