We are all aware of the large reach and popularity of Wikipedia. However, what most people don’t know is that, according to a study conducted in 2011, only 9% of the editors at Wikipedia were women. And the percentage for India is even lower, just 3%.
Wikipedia recognises the systemic gender bias that is created because of factors such as these and thus enables its diverse range of users to edit and create Wikipedia pages, with reliable and authentic sources.
Feminism in India conducts monthly Wikipedia edit-a-thons with different organisations exploring various facets of gender in India, thus increasing content on women and marginalized communities on Wikipedia as well as training women to create and edit Wikipedia pages and hence increasing the number of women editors.
In October 2018, FII participated in the national Wiki Women for Women Wellbeing editathon and collaborated with One Future Collective. The aim of the editathon was to increase the information on women’s physical and mental health on Wikipedia. The editathon was organised at 91springboard‘s New Delhi office in Nehru Place.
It is Wikipedia Saturday at FII! We are at @91springboard with @onefuture_india and editing pages on Women’s Health! Follow this thread for updates! #FIIWikiProject pic.twitter.com/9bRr7PoMva
— Feminism in India (@FeminismInIndia) October 27, 2018
Accordingly, we created a list of women’s physical health and mental health pages and looked at their representation on Wikipedia. We mostly expanded stub articles on women’s health and mental health.
We were a group of 15 editors in total, out of which 3 participated remotely from Mumbai. The event began with a discussion on the whys and hows of Wikipedia editing for new-comers.
After that, each participant chose one or more page on women’s health and mental health, and started digging through the internet looking for interviews, news reports and e-books that mentioned their chosen topic to write comprehensive Wikipedia articles on them.
By the end of the day, the participants had edited about 17 articles in English. See additional statistics here.
