By Wikimedia
On International Women's Day, Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, celebrated efforts in Africa to improve gender equity on Wikipedia as it launched the Wikipedia Needs More Women campaign.
The campaign, launched on Friday celebrated 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 more than 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 more than 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,” the organisation said in a statement.
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, it said.
“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 under-represented.”
Anusha Alikhan, the Wikimedia foundation's chief communications officer, “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."
“We’re also calling on everyone — journalists, academics, thought leaders, and individuals and organisations 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. Some examples of these efforts in Africa include:
– From 2022 to 2024, there was a 26% increase in the number of biographies and other content about women from the sub-Saharan Africa region on Wikimedia projects.
– Wikimedia contributors in Africa have been making consistent efforts to help bridge the gender gap on Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects over the past years. For example, librarian Alice Kibombo has created 70 Wikipedia articles, many of them about women politicians in Uganda.
– The "Wiki Green Conference 2023" in Ghana introduced young women to contributing to Wikimedia projects, including on topics that align with their other interests such as climate issues, gender equality and social justice.
– In Nigeria, which saw a 23% increase in women-related content on Wikimedia projects over the past two years, volunteer Dr Nkem Osuigwe has trained 300 African librarians on contributing to Wikipedia.
– In recent years, Kenya also witnessed a growth of 26% in biographies and other content about women, increasing from 762 entries in 2022 to 958 in 2024.
“It is inspiring to see the progress made across the African continent to improve gender equity on Wikipedia and beyond,” said Masana Mulaudzi, a senior manager of campaign organising at the Wikimedia Foundation.
“As one of the world's top resources for information, it's critical for Wikipedia to represent the full, rich diversity of all humanity. When more people from Africa contribute to Wikipedia, we move closer to achieving this vision.”
About the ‘Wikipedia Needs More Women’ campaign
This month, the Wikimedia Foundation's new Wikipedia Needs More Women campaign is celebrating ongoing efforts to close gender knowledge gaps and the volunteers doing this work, while also calling for a collaborative effort from everyone to increase gender diversity on Wikimedia projects.
“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,” it said.
Some examples of these efforts in Africa include:
From 2022 to 2024, there was a 26% increase in the number of biographies and other content about women from the sub-Saharan Africa region on Wikimedia projects.
Wikimedia said contributors in Africa had been making consistent efforts to help bridge the gender gap on Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects over the past years. For example, librarian Alice Kibombo has created 70 Wikipedia articles, many of them about women politicians in Uganda.
The “Wiki Green Conference 2023” in Ghana introduced young women to contributing to Wikimedia projects, including on topics that align with their other interests such as climate issues, gender equality, and social justice.
In Nigeria, which saw a 23% increase in women-related content on Wikimedia projects over the last two years, volunteer Dr Nkem Osuigwe has trained 300 African librarians on contributing to Wikipedia.
In recent years, Kenya also witnessed a growth of 26% in biographies and other content about women, increasing from 762 entries in 2022 to 958 in 2024.
“It is inspiring to see the progress made across the African continent to improve gender equity on Wikipedia and beyond," said Masana Mulaudzi, Senior Manager of Campaign Organising at the Wikimedia Foundation. ”As one of the world's top resources for information, it's critical for Wikipedia to represent the full, rich diversity of all humanity. When more people from Africa contribute to Wikipedia, we move closer to achieving this vision.“
About the ‘Wikipedia Needs More Women’ campaign
This month, the Wikimedia Foundation's new “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign is celebrating ongoing efforts to close gender knowledge gaps and the volunteers doing this work, while also calling 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.
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