sowmyarao_

Semiya · @sowmyarao_

14th Jan 2016 from TwitLonger

Quizzing, Patriarchy, Diversity


Patriarchy and Quizzing
(Please read women to include all gender-identities, in a hurry to search/replace)

What I said: Quizzing remains an activity where women are excluded. This is because patriarchy.

What I heard / common responses: Women not excluded, topics are those on which women don't have interest, venue timing problems, old boys club. Etc.

Why I think this happens: Obviously women are not specifically excluded. OBVIOUSLY OK. (Ballet dancers ARE seen as lame, and a male dancer is still mocked fyi @arjunattam ) But since all the quizzers on my TL agree that quizzing is male-dominated (not even a 65-35 split but like a 92-8 split), we can see there's something holding back women from participating. What? And if there is something, can we fix it?

My analysis:

1) At my all-girls school, there was no opportunity to genderise activities. We danced, quizzed, carried stuff, did sports. etc. When we went to school quizzes, apart from my school and 1 other, all other school teams were male, with a female team member being a rarity. It was uncomfortable and we never had fun, we were STARED AT, we quit. At law-school (undergraduate education was at a somewhat liberal law school) quizzing was seen as a fairly dull activity and it was more 'stud'ly to be a mooter, or a debater. Still, school-level male quizzers joined and easily found teammates (boyshostelizationitis).

Finding interested female teammates was hard and most importantly, women who showed aggresiveness, smarts and snark were seen as un-dateable/bossy (hate that word) losing out on valuable social currency, leading to PROBLEM NO 1: NO NETWORK. (agree with old boys point)

2) The campus strength never exceeded 550 so women were asked to be quiz setters, participants and organisers, but largely the activity remained the second most male-dominated (following closely behind CoD and gaming tournaments). To this day the 'Law-School' Quiz Forum on FB is dominated by men who groom junior men/friends to join, participate, socialise, set questions about men, about other male-dominated fields (military, politics, 'hard' science, sports).

There isn't any need to look for diversity in participation or questions, and consequently PROBLEM 2: NO EFFORT to reach out to women.

3) Even at said somewhat liberal law school, where we mandatorily studied socio and had openly feminist profs, there was rampant sexism, and harassment. Questions weren't sensitive to issues, women were called to be time-keepers, smaller quizzes happened at boys hostels, girlfriends came dressed up to cheer their men (hard to explain why this is problematic), chest-thumping, loud hi-fing, screaming, loud gesticulation, swearing, arguing, all were employed - tools that traditionally encourage women to back off, feel unsafe, feel unable to participate.

Hence PROBLEM 3: NO CONSIDERATION even if diversity was thought to be important.

SO problem IMO: NO NETWORK / NO EFFORT / NO CONSIDERATION. Not lack of interest, brains, gendered topics unless answers also gendered.

Solution?
If you want diversity, then:
Don't conduct all-women quizzes
Don't specifically encourage only all-women teams to participate (awesome tho they are).
Don't have prizes for female participation:
Don't seed to have more women in higher rounds
None of these address the three causes above (no network, no effort, no consideration). Further, none of the above really address why people like to quiz (social activity, thrill of winning against equal/better minds, good at nothing else).

DO encourage mixed teams by awarding bonus points to such teams or extra questions
DO mandate only mixed teams - as a proponent of reservation as affirmative action, I am strongly in favour
DO ensure your questions are not sexist, that the pictures you use aren't sexist, that you don't have sexy women as props questions, babe questions, sexual-undertone questions, ask about sex scandals in sports or politics, or sexual harassment who got fired connects.
DO ensure your answers are women/other genders. My personal experience is that most questions in a quiz are about men.
DO make a conscious effort to welcome all gender identities by adopting a strict no-harassment code like most well-organised conferences / festivals. Then, publicise the code.
DO make a conscious effort to have other gender identities as quiz-organisers / setters - hopefully they'll tap into their networks
DO make a conscious effort to reach out to women specifically and team then up with considerate, friendly male/other gender teammates (just inviting them isn't enough because how am I going to find teammates)
DO be considerate of the heavily sausagey atmosphere at quizzes, and ensure that venue, time, *lighting* and transport options are well-considered (MAKE SURE VENUES HAVE TOILETS AND DUSTBINS FOR PERIOD STUFF GUYS I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH)
DO be considerate that the women who do show up find it stressful and bewildering and are condescended to, hit on, dismissed, sneered at, testosteroned at, and made fun of. LOUDLY AND CLEARLY talk about the need for diversity at the beginning and the end and the middle of each quiz.
Do add women to FB quiz groups and encourage them to set questions
DO collect participant data if you can, it can help plan next time better

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