Post in Anonymity, Accountability and Identity

2007 Jun 19 07:56 UTC

When we launched our e-petitions website back in 2004, the first issues were
male-dominated but the stats changed in 2005 when we had our first big issue on
plastics recycling (nearly 5000 signatures). Since then, females have been
consistently slightly higher users of the site according to the exit survey.

Our e-panel consultation site also has slightly higher numbers of female
registrations but they probably aren't as vocal as the male participants
(although I haven't analysed it to much detail and as many people use
pseudonyms it's not always easy to spot them). My suspicion is that it depends
on the issue though.

For our neighbourhood issues forum I'd say that females post at least as
regularly as males if not more.

So, overall in my experience in Bristol, women are as active within
e-participation as men.

With regards to the Scotsman's forums I'm shocked that women are being
subjected to harrassment and not being pulled up for it.