Ninety-percent of editors in twelve different language versions of Wikipedias are men. This fact indicates that a large portion of Wikipedia’s public content is curated from a male-perspective, which in turn affects the trajectory of numerous articles. English Wikipedia has somewhat addressed the predominant male authorship of Wikipedia articles thanks to a variety of campaigns such as the Smithsonian’sAmerican Women’s History Initiative and national Art+Feminism Editathon Campaigns. The University Library and American Cultures Center co-host the Art+Feminism and Race+Justice Editathon every spring to promote more participation and representation of women and groups being minoritized on Wikipedia editors.
However, a male-dominated Wikipedia community only represents one of the many issues in obtaining online knowledge equity. Wikipedia still faces challenges with a continued lack of focus of articles on and representation of BIPOC, LGBTQ individuals and groups, and people with disabilities. Teaching with Wikipedia has continually proved to be a powerful source in providing greater content on these crucial missing people and topics. TheWikiEducation Foundation was formed in 2016 with the goal of positioning more women, people who are minoritized, and individuals within academia who are at the forefront of editing on Wikipedia.About 60% of editors who work alongside the WikiEducation Foundation identify as women, a similar percentage to the number of women enrolled across college campuses in the U.S. WikiEducation is solely responsible for producing 19% of all new editors on Wikipedia, making it one of the largest contributors of promoting knowledge equity on Wikipedia.
Are You interested in learning more about teaching with Wikipedia? Have you started to work on your first Wikipedia project and now need some guidance? Find the answers to these questions and many more in our FAQ guides for instructors and students.
