Openness rhetoric in open-source culture masks gender-exclusionary status hierarchies
Evidence
A survey of Wikipedia participants, for instance, found that only 13 percent of contributors and editors are women. Wikipedia researcher Joseph Reagle argues that the values of openness and transparency found in hacker and free and open-source software culture may actually serve to limit women’s involvement by giving priority to small groups of argumentative or misogynistic men while labeling concerns about sexism as “censorship.” That is, although the culture pays lip service to “an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” this “anyone” is circumscribed by the status hierarchy of the community. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 173
Categorization
- SHARE: The 13 percent female Wikipedia contributor figure and Reagle’s censorship-labeling point are exactly the kind of counterintuitive detail worth sending to a Wikipedia or open-source enthusiast.
- XREF: Connects to critiques of neutrality and open participation in peer production; resonates with Nina Paley and copyculture debates. — connects to: Tech meritocracy discourse masks a narrow demographic and behavioral mold — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 46; Gender inequality is structurally embedded in Silicon Valley’s self-image and status system — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 648; Work-life balance discourse in tech masks a gendered pressure to choose work — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 184 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Gender inequality is structurally embedded in Silicon Valley’s self-image and status system
#corroborates(0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 648 - Invoking individual creative freedom obscures the social hierarchies behind minority protest
#corroborates(0.82) - Espousing meritocracy while reinforcing sexist talk perpetuates low women’s participation in tech
#corroborates(0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 693 - Work-life balance discourse in tech masks a gendered pressure to choose work
#corroborates(0.72) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 184 - Superiority, inferiority, and equality frames distort gender discussion.
#complicates(0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 62