Growing the female ratio on Wikipedia
Sigrun Espe is an editor on Wikipedia in Norwegian Nynorsk. Photo: Aleksandar N. Zecevic, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Globally, less than 15 % of Wikipedia editors are women. Our project Growing the female ratio on Wikipedia is a push towards closing this gender gap by facilitating women’s participation.
- We will recruit and support female mentors. Some mentors can host Wikipedia Kickstart sessions.
- We will recruit and train female editors by offering courses and Kickstart sessions targeted towards women.
- We will provide good, inclusive meeting spaces where editors can nourish their skills. Collaborating with volunteers, we will be hosting wiki meetups in Oslo and at least two other cities.
Join our knowledge efforts!
August 2023–March 2024 we organised six Wikipedia editing courses for women: four in Oslo, one in Trondheim, and one in Sogndal. We’re now in phase 2 of the project, which lasts from April 2024 until the end of 2026. We offer more, and even though we focus on Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen, we also offer courses in certain other locations. Individuals and small groups take part in our online Wikipedia Kickstart sessions. Learn what one of our course attendants thinks: More women make Wikipedia better.
Collaborations
In this project we collaborate with communities, NGOs and institutions that boast a high ratio of female members or users. Such as Folkeakademiet, The Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights and public libraries. Many women want to learn how to share knowledge on Wikipedia. Read about how to collaborate with Wikimedia Norway, and get in touch if you want to learn more.
More diversity
Wikimedia Norway supports and stimulates the communities that create and maintain Wikipedia in Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Northern Sámi. We work hard to strengthen knowledge equity, and we know that editor demographics impact which knowledge is shared in the encyclopedia and whether a certain point of view dominates on each Wikipedia page.
September-October 2022 we mapped out the gender distribution of the most productive Wikipedia editors in Norway. The numbers include only those that have actively chosen to provide info about gender, meaning that they define as male or female. Non-binary, or those that simply don’t list their gender, are part of the “Unknown” (“Ukjent”) category, which constitutes 59 %. Although the numbers are unreliable, the male/female ratio is distinct. Only 4 % registered as women.
In 2022-2023, at the turn of the year, we took a closer look at Wikipedia editors that take on administrative or technical tasks, or that help train new editors. These numbers are more reliable because we know most of these people’s personal details. Only 8 % of those that filled these roles were women (“Kvinner”), and only one woman was a mentor on Wikipedia in Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk or Northern Sámi.
Administrators and mentors on Wikipedia language versions in Norway:
More women could make Wikipedia content more gender-balanced. But in this project we don’t focus on content: We have set goals and work long-term to provide training that can help grow the female ratio.
Targets for phase 2 of the project (2024–2026)
Each year:
- At least 60 women take part in editing courses, and are then followed-up closely by a mentor for at least three months. A third of the women are active editors on Wikipedia a year after their course attendance.
By the end of the project period:
- Five women actively contribute as Wikipedia mentors and three of them are also Wikipedia Kickstart hosts. The female ratio of 1) mentors and administrators and 2) editors exceeds 15 %.
- 25 % female ratio amongst wiki meetup participants.
The project Growing the female ratio on Wikipedia has been awarded grants from The Fritt Ord Foundation (phase 1) and The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufdir) (phase 2).
Category: Gender gap, Growing the female ratio on Wikipedia, News, Wikipedia