Women Are Boring

Women Are Boring is an online publication featuring research by women. It aims to improve the visibility of women researchers, in response to the poor representation of discoveries by women in media outlets that quote or cover academic research. Women Are Boring is primarily a platform for women to post summaries or synopses of research that they have published in a different venue, on any topic.

Women Are Boring
Type of site
Research periodical
Available inEnglish
Created by
  • Grace McDermott
  • Catherine Connolly
URLwomenareboring.wordpress.com
CommercialNo
Launched2016 (2016)

History and motivation

Grace McDermott and Catherine Connolly founded the publication while they were PhD students at Dublin City University in May[1] of 2016.[2] McDermott and Connolly attributed their decision to found Women Are Boring to the under-representation of women in media, and particularly the underrepresentation of women scholars in news about research.[3] They were specifically motivated by a study by The Global Media Monitoring Project which concluded that "only 24% of the persons heard, read about or seen in news media are women", and that only 28% of the sources cited in Irish news media were women, with only a very small proportion of those in expert roles like scientific or academic sources.[4] McDermott and Connolly have noted the contrast between the dearth of women researchers in popular media and the plethora of research by women that they consistently encountered as PhD students.[5]

McDermott and Connolly chose the name "Women Are Boring" for their platform partly to alter the Google Search results for that phrase, which they noted had previously consisted of results that were overwhelmingly demeaning to women.[3] It is also intended to ironically contrast the attitude that women are boring with the interesting information that is shared by women on the platform, to demonstrate the absurdity of the claim that women are boring.[6]

Women Are Boring was founded at a similar time to other efforts to increase the visibility of women academics online and specifically in news media, such as Women Also Know Stuff and 500 Women Scientists.[3] It has also been compared to The Bearded Lady Project, the Athena SWAN Program, and the Dangerous Women Project of International Women's Day 2016.[7]

Contributions

Women Are Boring features research summaries and research contributions from women.[3] Most contributors are academics, but contributions also come from women researchers who do not work in academia. The contributions are specifically meant for a general audience, and are intended to be accessible to any interested reader, rather than appealing exclusively to other researchers.[8] Although founders McDermott and Connolly both studied foreign policy and international affairs, with McDermott studying in the School of Communications and Connolly studying in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University,[9] there are no restrictions on the topics accepted by Women Are Boring.[5] Shortly after its founding, in July 2016, a Dublin City University news release noted that it had already covered topics including "women in ISIS, gender equality in Northern Ireland and Scotland's health inequalities", and had then received "12,000 views from more than 94 countries".[9] By 2017, about one year after the website's founding, Stellar Magazine reported that Women Are Boring had featured contributions in areas "from US foreign policy to William Shakespeare".[10] Women Are Boring specifically aims to promote interdisciplinary research, and facilitate networking of scholars across traditional disciplinary boundaries.[11]

Women Are Boring does not publish full research papers, but rather features summaries or synopses which link readers to full research projects, a process which has been compared with the research summaries available on Wikipedia.[12] Although the website does not publish full research papers, some original early-stage research contributions to Women Are Boring that were not already published in full elsewhere have subsequently been expanded by their authors and published in peer-reviewed academic journals.[13]

References
  1. "Women are not boring, insist DCU students". Dublin People Media. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  2. O'Connell, Claire (22 July 2016). "Women Are Boring: the research blog putting paid to a harmful myth". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  3. "Women Are Boring: About". Women Are Boring. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  4. "The media gender gap ... and what to do about it". Women Are Boring. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  5. "Meetings: Women Are Boring". Riposte Magazine. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  6. Cocking, Simon (12 August 2016). "Women are boring. Interview with founders". Irish Times. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  7. "Doing science like a girl". Multiple Sclerosis Society UK. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  8. Valentine, Aoife (14 September 2016). "Women in research are anything but boring". Irish Times. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  9. "DCU PhD students launch WomenAreBoring academic research site". Dublin City University News. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  10. Lyne, Paula (8 March 2017). "Raise Up: The Only Advice You Need: To Build Up Your Female Friends". Stellar Magazine. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  11. Dhuinn, Siún Ní (15 February 2017). "As an Nua Interviews: 'Women are Boring' Founders". As An Nua. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  12. Lazer Guided Reporter (9 August 2018). "A site for change: Woman are Boring continue to shift perceptions of women in research". Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  13. Smith, Sarah (10 April 2017). "Accountability and sexual exploitation and abuse in peace operations". Australian Journal of International Affairs. 71: 405–422. doi:10.1080/10357718.2017.1287877.
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