Gender Equality and Representation

Gender equality on Wikipedia 

Gender equality refers to the representation and fair treatment of people of all gender identities. Of English Wikipedia’s biographies, only 17% are about women, whilst 90% of Wikipedia's contributors are male. Gender inequalities lead to a bias in the content on Wikipedia. 

There are a number of reasons that make gender equality online important:

• Young people need role models to encourage them to enter careers where their genders are unrepresented
• Equality ensures the representation of diverse perspectives
• Gender equality ensures that notable figures and their work are valued and visible

Gender equality in the University and Academia

The University is taking steps to improve gender equality, both on campus and within academia. The EqualBITE document highlights aspects of gender inequality and provides practical advice for how to combat these issues, including by raising the profile of female academics and encouraging them to present their work to wider audiences. The University also has commitments to the Athena SWAN award, which is presented to schools for their work in improving gender equality. Such ambitions can be supported through the creation and use of open knowledge resources, including Wikipedia. For instance,  writing articles about the University's academics or using their work as references across Wikipedia can increase the visibility of the achievements of all our academics regardless of their gender.

How Wikipedia is improving gender equality online

Wikipedia has various associated projects and groups which aim to improve gender equality, diversity and inclusion. Wikiprojects are one way that these edits are coordinated. For instance, Wikiproject:Women in Red, started by the University's Wikimedia in Residence, hosts a monthly edit-a-thon during which the pages of notable women on Wikipedia are created, edited and expanded. Meanwhile, other organisations such as Art+Feminism and AfroCROWD aim to provide supportive and welcoming communities in which women can contribute to Wikimedia projects. 

Other ways of increasing representation through Wikipedia include:

• Creating secondary sources celebrating academics and alumni of all genders
• Sharing open licensed images, for instance on Wikimedia Commons, to illustrate Wikipedia pages
• Create navigation boxes on Wikipedia to aid discoverability.

Further links (external):

Gender bias on Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a reflection of the World's gender biases: Wikimedia Foundation

ReWriting Women's stories online

© Ewan McAndrew and Clea Strathmann, University of Edinburgh, 2020, CC BY-SA 4.0, unless otherwise indicated.