Wikipedia and Gender

In INFS 1000, we've been spending a fair amount of time talking about Wikipedia. I always think it's interesting that, more than just about any other web site out there, Wikipedia generates the most conversation in this course in particular, but in just about all of the courses I teach. Maybe it is because some faculty are so anti-Wikipedia, just 'cause it's Wikipedia. What frustrates me is that they don't take it to the next level and say that ANY general encyclopedia is, most of the time, simply not suitable as a source for college-level research, and to talk about how it CAN be used.

Anyway, one of my esteemed Library colleagues forwarded a link to a blog post on the Wall Street Journal, noting that only 13% of Wikipedia contributors are women. How do you think this influences the entries in Wikipedia? Do you think it matters?

MLA-Style Citation (sorry, can't do the hanging indent):

LaVallee, Andrew. "Only 13% of Wikipedia Contributors are Women, Study Says." Digits: Technology News and Insights. 31 Aug. 2009. Wall Street Journal Blogs. 1 Sept. 2009 http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/08/31/only-13-of-wikipedia-contributors-are-women-study-says/