curious forum statistic

[Ken S]

The statistics for this forum indicate an eighty-three to one ratio of members to female members. I am curious to know how this is determined, as almost none of the older members, myself included, posted a gender choice. The question does not seem to be part of the new member form, and few members use a name which is obviously masculine or feminine, even if it is not fictitious.

I welcome diversity on the forum. The more members who have different life experience from mine, the more opportunity I have to learn from their experiences.

I just find the precision of the 83:1 ratio amusing.

Ken

[mike40]

I'm not necessarily a politically correct person Ken, but on all the other forums I belong to I don't really care what gender they are, and I doubt you do either. I just consider them woodworkers. It seems that the wood doesn't really care either. I can only wonder why anybody else is concerned about it. I think it must have something to do with marketing. I do think it is a pity though that more women have not gotten into woodworking as it certainly does not require large muscles, or testosterone to be good at it. I'm glad my wife is not interested in it though, as I wouldn't want to compete with her for shop time and tool use, especially since she would probably be better at it than myself.

[Ken S]

Well stated, Mike. (I would expect nothing less from you.)

I agree with you about having more women in woodworking. When I was younger I attended many photographic seminars. One thing I observed about the women students in the classes was that they were generally more interested in making meaningful images than in how many millimeters a particular lens could resolve. That was resfreshing!

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

Evidently the ratio is calculated using the available data. For example if 1000 people are registered, 166 declare a gender of male and 2 declare a gender of female, then the ratio is 166/2 or 83. Perhaps after registering people can update their profile with their gender, but it's optional.

[Rob]

I'm a woman :-)

[Herman Trivilino]

Rob's your aunt?!

[Ken S]

Touché, Herman!

Ken

[Rob]

LOL

Chaps...the rhyme goes....Bob's your Uncle, Fanny's your Aunt :-)

[grepper]

I've never heard that rhyme.  How does the rest of it go?