New campaign, “Wikipedia Needs More Women”, from the nonprofit behind Wikipedia invites everyone to improve gender equity on Wikipedia and beyond.
Wikimedia Nigeria — in partnership with the Embassy of Sweden in Nigeria, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) — will host a month-long series of events to improve gender equity, among other activities happening across Africa.
The gender gap is an all-pervasive issue across the internet. We need individuals and organizations across the information landscape to help #ChangeTheStats.
Lagos, 08 March 2024 — The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit behind Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, today announced the launch of its “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign. The campaign celebrates efforts around the world, including Africa, to improve gender equity on Wikimedia projects and invites others to get involved.
Understanding gender gaps
As one of the world’s largest knowledge resources, with 62 million articles in over 300 languages and 15 billion views per month, Wikipedia plays a crucial role in shaping our understanding of the world.
Content on Wikipedia is written on notable subjects by over 265,000 volunteer contributors from around the world. These volunteers adhere to Wikipedia’s editorial standards, ensuring all information is backed by reliable sources and presented from a neutral point of view.
Wikipedia depends on the availability of existing published sources to verify the facts in its articles. But in many places around the world, women have been left out of historical narratives and traditional sources of knowledge. This gender gap is an all-pervasive issue across the internet. This means that many of these knowledge gaps are present on Wikipedia, and women remain significantly underrepresented.
“On International Women’s Day, the ‘Wikipedia Needs More Women’ campaign is a call to action for everyone to help close these knowledge gaps on Wikipedia. There are a number of ways that people can get involved to change the stats and make a difference, from editing a Wikipedia page to attending an online event,” said Anusha Alikhan, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Chief Communications Officer. “We’re also calling on everyone — journalists, academics, thought leaders, and individuals and organizations across the information landscape — to increase their coverage of women. This will help build out the ecosystem of secondary literature that Wikipedia volunteers rely on to create and improve content about women.”
How Africa has progressed in closing gender gaps
For many years, the Wikimedia Foundation and volunteers on Wikimedia projects have been making global efforts to address these knowledge gaps and increase the equitable engagement and representation of all people and subjects on Wikipedia and beyond.
WikiGap Nigeria Online Challenge begins this month
This month, Wikimedia User Group Nigeria (Wikimedia Nigeria) — a nonprofit organization committed to promoting free access to knowledge through Wikimedia projects in Nigeria — is leading a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Nigerian women on Wikipedia.
In partnership with the Embassy of Sweden in Nigeria, and the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Wikimedia Nigeria is organizing the WikiGap Nigeria Online Challenge. This challenge is open to the public to create new articles for notable women and improve existing articles about women on Wikipedia, with a focus on English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Tyap Wikipedias.
“The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) is proud to join forces with Wikimedia Nigeria in their dedicated pursuit of gender equity. By empowering women to contribute to and shape the content on Wikipedia, we are paving the way for a more inclusive and diverse platform for knowledge sharing,” said Dr Adeola Ekine, Chairperson of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists.
The initiative kicks off on International Women’s Day, 8 March, with an in-person symposium featuring engaging panel discussions. Following this, on 12 and 13 March, a capacity-building workshop will take place, where the Wikimedia Nigeria team will guide NAWOJ members in utilizing and enhancing their understanding of Wikipedia. The campaign will conclude with the Online Challenge, running from 14 to 31 March.
“We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to contribute to the sum of all human knowledge,” said Olushola Olaniyan, Wikimedia Nigeria User Group President. “The WikiGap Nigeria Online Challenge seeks to foster inclusivity, diversity, and gender representation on Wikipedia and the internet at large. Join us and play your part in ensuring that we begin to see more women in the world’s largest encyclopedia.”
About the “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign
This month, the Wikimedia Foundation’s new “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign is celebrating ongoing efforts, such as the WikiGap Nigeria Online Challenge, to close gender knowledge gaps and the volunteers doing this work. The campaign also calls for a collaborative effort from everyone to increase gender diversity on Wikimedia projects.
We need everyone, everywhere to help improve gender equity on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Here are some ways you can help to join the campaign, #ChangeTheStats, and make a difference:
– Join an event for Women’s History Month and Celebrate Women. Every year in March, hundreds of Wikimedia volunteers around the globe get together in person and virtually to edit women’s content onto Wikimedia projects. Celebrate Women is a volunteer-led campaign that is open to all, beginner and experienced editors. Visit their webpage to find everything, from events happening near you to helpful resources, and how to get started.
– Improve a Wikipedia article by adding a citation or expanding an article about a notable woman.
– Join your local community of Wikipedia volunteers.
– Share how you are helping to #ChangeTheStats on social media.
The “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign launches onFriday, 8 March.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects; build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content; support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.
About Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, collaborative encyclopedia written in over 300 languages by volunteers around the world. Content on Wikipedia is written on notable subjects by over 265,000 volunteer contributors from around the world. These volunteers adhere to Wikipedia’s editorial standards, ensuring all information is backed by reliable sources and presented from a neutral point of view.
+Contact Information
Dumisani Ngwaila
Senior Communications Consultant.