By Katie Crampton, Communications Coordinator at Wikimedia UK
Over the last eight years, Wikimedia UK has been actively tackling inequality and bias across the Wikimedia projects. One of our primary strategic goals is to enhance the involvement and portrayal of marginalised individuals and topics on Wikipedia. Women’s representation has been a vital aspect of this.
Many editors have risen to the challenge of closing the wiki gender gap, so we’re by no means alone in our efforts. Projects like Women in Red and Art+Feminism are well known across the global wiki-movement, and have inspired thousands to start editing for women.
If you’d like to join an event during Women’s History month, here’s a some to get you going:
For anyone who’d like a trip to Glasgow, there’s a trilingual editathon on contemporary women writers from Germany, France, and Scotland. Join us at the Goethe-Institut Glasgow on Wednesday 6th March, from 4-8pm. No previous editing experience is needed, as our Scotland Programme Manager, Dr Sara Thomas will be on hand for the technical introduction to Wikipedia. Guests are invited to work on authors of their choice in either English, French and/or German. Please bring your own laptops and dinner snacks to make the most of the friendly atmosphere. Book your ticket on eventbrite.
The Women in Red editathons at the University of Edinburgh are long running and much loved by those who have attended. The next session – which is open to everyone, not just students – will be on Friday 8th March, from 1-4:30pm in the Digital Scholorship Centre. It’s both in person and online if you can’t make it to the library. No prior editing experience is required, with Ewan McAndrew and Ellie Whitehead on hand to get you started. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate the lives of inspiring women on International Women’s Day. Please bring your own laptop. Book your ticket on eventbrite.
As part of UCL’s pledge to confront its history of eugenics and ongoing legacies, they’re running two events on The Women Scientists of UCL’s Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics. You are invited to join students from UCL’s Public History MA programme and UCL Special Collections, in conjunction with the Eugenics Legacy Education Project (ELEP), for an interactive workshop about the women scientists who worked on eugenics research in the early twentieth century at in the Galton Laboratory. The events will examine how can we critically understand the historical work of women that developed and advanced oppressive ideologies against the backdrop of today’s women in STEM movement. Participants will be using Wikipedia to increase visibility of the archival evidence of eugenics at UCL and women in science. There’s two dates available, which you can book on eventbrite:
Tuesday 12th March, 12:30-1:30pm, UCL East in Marshgate
Tuesday 19th March, 1:30-2:30pm, Bloomsbury on Gower Street
We celebrate Women’s History Month in March, yet the work to close the gender gap is a year round activity. Take a look at just some of the examples of the fantastic efforts we’ve seen across the UK:
Protests and Suffragettes
Protests and Suffragettes is a creative initiative and social enterprise. They’re made up of artists, activists, and local historians dedicated to uncovering and honouring the stories of female activists throughout Scotland’s history. They have hosted a number of editathons committed to enriching the information of Scottish women’s activism on the Wikimedia projects. Protests and Suffragettes spoke at our Community Meeting in November (watch here) at which some of the other guest speakers commended their workshops as part of their own editing journeys.
Nurses in Red
At the same meeting we awarded the Royal College of Nursing’s History of Nursing Forum as our Partnership of the Year for their Nurses in Red project. The forum is open to anyone who has an interest in history, and in 2022 they set up lunchtime Wikithons to add notable women nurses to the Wikimedia projects. Women make up 90% of the nursing profession, but their important achievements are severely underrepresented in historic accounts both on Wikimedia and beyond. You can find out more about the project and its brilliant achievements in this video.
The Hunger Strike Medal
Becky Male has been a volunteer at Glasgow Women’s Library since 2019. Becky digitises the archive at the library, photographing their collection of objects. She started editing Wikipedia on the Hunger Strike Medal’s article, overhauling much of the page and adding over 100 references so the historic significance of the medal was reflected by its article. You can see Becky talking about her wiki-journey and the medal in this video.
Do let us know if you too are celebrating Women’s History Month with related wiki activities by getting in touch at info@wikimedia.org.uk, or tagging us on social media.
You can support this work with a donation. We’re so grateful to our supporters, who enable us to continue diversifying the Wikimedia projects so they better represent us all.