Andy Griffith had a wonderful way of allowing the character of Sheriff Andy Taylor to look foolish in order to teach America lessons. In this case, the lessons were of compassion, humanity, and equality. Sadly, in the wake of Governor Palin’s resignation, it’s clear that those lessons are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago.

In the original show (episode 10 of season one, “Ellie for Council,” in reruns on TVLand), Andy redeems himself. When he hears Opie bashing women, and realizes that the boy is just parroting his father, Andy becomes ashamed of himself. I hope America today will have the courage to be as self-reflective and wise.

During Women’s History Month, I saw many comments about school curricula being deficient regarding women in part because (with some note able exceptions like Mercy Otis Warren) traditional history books have been written mostly by men. Well, it’s happening again. Today, when our children need to research a topic, where do they turn? Wikipedia. And who is writing Wikipedia? Mostly men. Women make up only 13% of Wikipedia contributors, according to a new survey.

Commenting on the phenomenon to Reuters, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner said:

I know that an editorial initiative is only as rich, and as thoughtful, and as intelligent as the people who contribute to it, right? Wikipedia currently is contributed to primarily by young, male geeks, right? Really, really smart, really earnest kids. I want to broaden that out a little bit. That’s my goal. I don’t worry about that, but I’d like to see more women contribute, I’d like to see more older people contribute. There are people who have spent their entire lives developing expertise and accruing knowledge. I want them to give it back.

Blogger Jen Nedeau

Blogger Jen Nedeau at change.org mused:

Hmm – it seems that we have yet another online example where women are not feeling very welcome to share their ideas, their voice and their intellect. Wikipedia is a naturally contentious site and while I’m sure not everyone – male or female – enjoys an online edit war, it is yet another example of how male dominated the internet space has become. I’m not suggesting there is anyone to blame for this gender discrepancy, but just as the Second Wavers fought for more voices on the Op-Ed pages of major newspapers – it is just as important to have the female perspective of history on sites like Wikipedia that inform millions of people everyday on history, pop culture, politics and geography.

Martha Saxton, associate professor at Amherst College, is one woman who is stepping into the breach, making writing or revising Wiki articles on women in history a requirement of her Women’s History courses.

So what do you think, readers? How important is it that history be written by a gender-balanced crew? How important is the Wikipedia medium as opposed to more academic publications and textbooks? Have you ever written for Wikipedia, and if not why not? What would make contributing more attractive to women?