Talk:Gender gap India work plan

This is the discussion page for the draft work plan-cum-policy document for 2013-14 for the Gender gap project in India. Please leave your comments and suggestions here. - Rohini (talk) 16:39, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Do we need to target a particular gender?

Wikipedia is edited by anonymous editors, in my perception Wikipedia is gender neutral, it is common to refer to an editor as "they", about the gender gap, do we have statistics comparing Wikipedia with other activities? Don't we see redundancy in a separate gender based programme? I see all the programmes necessary for a target audience of any gender? Yogesh Khandke (talk) 14:48, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

The contents may or may not be gender specific , but there is lack of women contributors . That is the reason why these SIG's are in place . Programmes which are open to all audience have to be done , no doubt in that . But if specific interventions are made , it would be of great use for the community . --Commons sibi (talk) 05:06, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Yogesh, the reason for the existence of Gender gap is that content on Wikipedia is greatly skewed away from women and transgenders. Your perception that Wikipedia is gender neutral is flawed. You may refer to any of the documented cases of gender bias, misogyny, sexism, or lack of gender neutrality on Wikipedia. As for your question on statistics for gender based participation on other websites, most social networking sites have around 50% female users. Websites such as WikiHow, which is also a wiki and crowdsources its content in many languages, also have nearly 50% participation from women. Wikipedia has only 9%. As for general outreach activities, can you tell me what was the turnout of women you witnessed in any general outreach activities you may have organised or attended? -- Rohini (talk) 06:55, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Addendum: Gender gap does not target women alone. It targets the genderqueer and the genderfluid too. -- Rohini (talk) 06:57, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Are we discussing gender as a subject covered by Wikipedia or gender of Wikipedia's contributors? I am referring about the later, Wikipedia is edited anonymously, so there is no way to determine the gender of a contributor with accuracy. I have done a couple of outreach programmes one with Commerce undergraduates at Nagar and another with doctoral students at TISS, Mumbai; my experience, of editing Wikipedia and introducing it to newcomers is that editing Wikipedia isn't biased in favour or against any gender. We can only be lead by characteristics of external sexual dimorphism in humans, so that tells us little about a person's sexual orientation, so I cannot be sure about the orientation of the participants, but there was a even mix of male and female individuals in the two programmes I participated in. Regarding to misogyny etc. would you kindly provide a few links, evidence ought to be provided to substantiate the claim that there is gender bias. Yogesh Khandke (talk) 09:22, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

If we are talking about gender bias when it comes to subjects that Wikipedia deals with, I would like to understand how this programme attempts to deal with it. Yogesh Khandke (talk) 09:22, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Hello yogesh , its not only about wiki pages and edits on women.its wiki edits by women too .so when quantity increases at a point quality would start increasing . More over it would give the fellow women wikipedians a sense of belongingness to the community. And bring in more editors .--Commons sibi (talk) 15:53, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Event in Hyderabad

I wanted to understand if we can plan an activity in Hyderabad. If we are looking for conducting gender-gap programme in Mumbai, Can we organize the Wiki--Women India Camp/Conference in Hyderabad or vice-versa. I am interested to support for any local support. This will encourage women to participate and it will also benefit regional language WikiTeams as well. Let me know - Abhijith Jayanthi (talk) 19:52, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Sure, you can plan Gender gap activities in Hyderabad. The WikiWomen Camp is for the long run. We first need to build a base of women editors to have enough participants in the conference. At this point in time, I am open to all options regarding the conference. There is a dire need to conduct Gender gap outreach activities, at least a beginner level workshop, in every big city and to build the editor base. Let me know if you can take up such an activity. -- Rohini 07:01, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

- Abhijith Jayanthi , I would also be available for helping in Hyderabad. I think it could also be possible to get some sort of starting point through conducting a Wikipedia workshop in one of the colleges in the city. Any thoughts? (Ping me on enwiki if you reply) TheOriginalSoni (talk) 21:42, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

TISS Hyderabad is starting its MA Women's Studies programme next year. There are several fine scholars at that institution who could help generate content and edit older articles, or mentor their students to do that. There are also people at EFLU Hyderabad who recently conducted their first Wikipedia workshop, and who are interested in gender issues. Tniranjana (talk) 09:41, 30 September 2013 (UTC)Tniranjana

Women only ?

Why in some places women only is specified ? Why cant it be Women and Transgenders only ?--Commons sibi (talk) 15:51, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

I have used "women" as an umbrella term for all the genders included in Gender gap to keep things brief. -- Rohini (talk) 06:32, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

There's a huge debate over the last few decades in gender-sensitive writings/discussions about whether we are referring to biological gender (eg. men, women...) or gender characteristics to do with masculinity and femininity that are to a large extent socially and culturally determined. Maybe by saying 'women' we run the risk of short-circuiting this discussion? If anyone is interested, I can put up some references. Tniranjana (talk) 09:48, 30 September 2013 (UTC)Tniranjana

I am well aware of the debate and the nuances of gendered diction. It's just that I felt it would be best to maintain brevity at this point. This document is a work in progress. The final work should be devoid of any such points that might stick out. Please feel free to rephrase any of the references to gender that I have used, or to suggest better alternatives to them. I have also clarified on the content page that I have used one word as a placeholder for the sake of brevity and that one word happens to be "women". -- Rohini (talk) 13:39, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Volunteers engagement

Hi, this is an amazing plan, you really did a good job! I would like to know more about how did you manage to engage so many volunteers. Did you choose those cities because there were already interested people there or did you first pinpoint them as strategic localities and then look for people who could run the activities? Are the volunteers mostly Wikipedians (not normally involved in chapters activities) or mostly chapter members? --Atropine (talk) 02:42, 29 October 2013 (UTC)