Get the #Wikimedia girls

For the past two months there are several discussions about how to get more girls involved in Wikimedia community. There are several news about that (the New York Times even made a "special" about it with several specialist opinions). Sue Gardner create a mailing list to discuss the problem  and now that is – in my opinion – one of the most productive mailings list out there right now.
 
Today, in the other hand, there is a posting in foundation-I mailing list created when they discuss the possibility of change MediaWiki to allow us to see a female version of “user” in our user pages (and I can be “usuária:Beria” and not anymore “usuário:Beria”) which in fact is a topic very discussed in Gender Gap mailing list, the possibility of be called by female words if we want to.
 
Well, apparently not everyone think that is a good idea. According with the boys – and here a note: Yes, there was no girl discussing that in Foundation mailing list, they are deciding our life for us, like in Middle Ages – girls “don’t” want to be called as girls, because since the female version of words are made by adding someone in the male version, that is “anti-feminist” and that “wouldn't really help to attract more new female users.” 

Well, I can tell what will for sure not attract us: That male centrist culture, that “James Bond” culture that treat girls as accessories and believe we can’t decide what we want, and decided that only because tech world is full of males we just are “used” to be treating as one.

Some of us will not use that option, for sure. But here we are talking about right to choose. And we can’t choose unless we had that option. Not all girls vote today, but when, back in 1920’s, girls fight for that; they fight for have the right to choose.

Maybe boys can imagine that is nothing, but that is very important for girls. And that small step can open the door to girls feel more include in Wikipedia “A place so, so good, who even call me as a girl”.

Thank you Béria Lima for being a guest on my blog.
        GerardM