Wikimedia Foundation launches “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign on Intl Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day, the Wikimedia Foundation has launched the “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign to celebrate global efforts, including those in India, to enhance gender equity on Wikimedia projects, particularly Wikipedia.

The campaign aims to recognize ongoing endeavors to close gender knowledge gaps and acknowledges the volunteers involved in this work. It also calls for collaborative efforts to increase gender diversity on Wikimedia platforms.

According to a statement from the Wikimedia Foundation, Indians are actively contributing to improving gender equity on Wikipedia, despite the gender gap being a pervasive issue on the internet. The campaign urges individuals and organizations across the information landscape to participate in #ChangeTheStats, an initiative to address this gap.

India holds a significant position in the Wikipedia ecosystem, with the fourth-highest number of page views globally and the third-largest number of contributors to English Wikipedia. The country also leads in content creation within the South Asia region, contributing over 70% of the region’s information on Wikimedia projects.

The Foundation and Wikimedia volunteer communities in India have been working to address knowledge gaps and increase equitable engagement and representation on Wikimedia projects. India is also home to 20 Indic languages, the largest representation from any single country on Wikipedia.

The WikiWomen Camp 2023, held in Delhi-NCR, brought together around 100 volunteers from 30 countries to discuss strategies for achieving gender equity on Wikimedia projects. The camp resulted in a declaration for promoting diversity and inclusion in Wikimedia projects, along with key recommendations for the broader Wikimedia movement.

Wikimedia contributors in India have made significant efforts to bridge the gender gap on Wikimedia projects, including hosting the global WikiWomen Camp 2023, organizing women-centric edit-a-thons, and collaborating to bring women-related content to Wikimedia projects. As a result, there has been a steady growth rate of 13% in content related to women on Wikimedia projects since 2021.

Masana Mulaudzi, Senior Manager of Campaign Organizing at the Wikimedia Foundation, expressed admiration for the progress made in India to improve gender equity on Wikipedia. She emphasized the importance of representing the full diversity of humanity on Wikipedia and encouraged more people from India to contribute to Wikipedia to achieve this vision.

Anusha Alikhan, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Chief Communications Officer, highlighted the “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign as a call to action for everyone to help close knowledge gaps on Wikipedia. She encouraged people to get involved by editing Wikipedia pages, attending online events, and increasing coverage of women in media and academia.

To participate in the campaign, individuals can join events for Women’s History Month, edit Wikipedia articles about notable women, join local Wikipedia communities, or share their contributions on social media using the hashtag #ChangeTheStats.

Content on Wikipedia is created and edited by over 265,000 volunteer contributors worldwide, who ensure that information is backed by reliable sources and presented neutrally. However, traditional sources of knowledge have often excluded women from historical narratives, leading to significant underrepresentation of women on Wikipedia.

The “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign aims to address these knowledge gaps and promote gender equity on Wikimedia projects, inviting everyone to join the effort and make a difference.