London Mayor Sadiq Kahn: Close Wikipedia's Gender Page Gap
If this comedy writing thing doesn't work out, I may get a job creating new nontroversies in which leftists can get their unisex panties in a bunch. I think I'd excel. Because all you need is an imagination. No idea is too ridiculous for progressives to turn into a cause. Enter London Mayor Sadiq Khan (see London Mayor Wants to Solve Rising Knife Crime by… Banning YouTube Videos? and Mayor to London Underground Metro Workers: Stop Saying ‘Ladies and Gentlemen…’). His new issue is the lack of women using Wikipedia.
With 83 per cent of biographies on Wikipedia about men, you may not be surprised to learn that men also make up around 85 per cent of those who edit pages on the site. That is also something we want to see change - after all, anyone can be a Wikipedia editor if they want to, and this could go a huge way in leveling the playing field.So why are there fewer female Wikipedia editors? Previously, this 'Wikigap' was blamed on a lack of knowledge about the editing process; for some, it may be a case of just not having enough time. Others might suffer from a lack of confidence about submitting biographical entries, with some women reporting that they have had negative experiences of doing so, and faced abuse or conflict online. These are all issues we must address if we are to see a shift in the number of pages about fascinating women, past and present, that the site so sorely lacks.
Or, maybe they just aren't interested in being Wikieditors. Also isn't Kahn mansplaining why women aren't using Wikipedia? Isn't Kahn mansplaining why they should use it? Because it seems like he's talking down to women, in both explaining why women aren't using the platform and how they should be.
Maybe I'm off base here. If you identify as a girl, I'd like to hear your opinion on this. But I read comments like Kahn's, and they are dripping with condensation.
Plus, while people are free to be concerned about multiple things at once, it just kind of seems like Wikipedia's gender use should fall far below priorities like rampant knife crime, acid attacks, and terrorism over in London. Am I right?
