Urgently needed: Wiki Edit A Thons! Wikipedia is the first to admit that they have some big sex and diversity gaps. In 2011 only 10% of wiki contributors were female and in 2018 only 17% of entries are about women. Wikipedia acknowledges that systemic biases have led to the under-representation of women, and other demographic groups. Biographies of living persons, notably females, are being deleted.
Case in point, Clarice Phelps was the first black woman to help discover an element. That wasn’t enough for some Wiki Editors. On February 11, 2019, in the middle of US Black History Month, on International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Phelps’s page was deleted.
Phelps’ entry was created in September 2018 by Dr Jess Wade. A postdoctoral researcher in physics. As a side-project, Jess has been working to combat the under-representation of female scientists on Wikipedia.
She tries to write one new biography per day and is an inspiration.
Back in 2018, The Peoples Hub and Zebra Partnership joined forces with Digital Science and a handful of organisations to host a communal wiki update on 8-9 October 2018 for Ada Lovelace Day. To improve the coverage of women and diversity on Wikipedia.
Ada's Army is our international army of brilliant women, past and present, named after our General, Countess Ada Lovelace. Ada was the world's first programmer who wrote the first computer algorithm one hundred years before computers were invented!
The Pankhurst Centre in Manchester kindly agreed to be our Ada's Army hub on 9th October 2018. Hubs worldwide connected and joined forces for the communal updating of Wikipedia. Entries on subjects related to women and diversity in science, technology, art, business and more. London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Stockport in the UK to New Zealand, Germany, USA, Dubai and India.
Huge ‘Thank You’ to Katy Alexander and her team at Digital Science for coordinating this in 2018.
In 2019, co-Founder of Wiki Women In Red and Global Wiki Equality Advocate, Roger Bamkin and Information and knowledge expert, Dr Marianne Bamkin joined us to co-host. A new London hub at Ada National College for Digital Skills which worked perfectly for Ada Lovelace Day.
Our intern, Andrea Zapachova, from the beautiful country of Slovakia, was fortunate to take part in the Adas Army Wiki Editathon and is now a Wiki Editor. Andrea also co-managed The People’s Hub, International Womens Day 2020 Wiki Editathon event in Aalborg, Denmark.
Wiki Women in Red (WiR) was founded specifically to address Wikipedia’s stark female bias, where historically under 15% of all English Wikipedia biographies were about women. The name comes from red links—Wikipedia's visual indicator for a topic that does not yet have an article.
The Metric & Progress
The 19.32% Milestone: On September 26, 2022, WiR reached 19.324% female biographies on English Wikipedia. While under a fifth of total biographies still highlights systemic historical neglect, it represents significant progress from the early days of the project.
The Scale: Because English Wikipedia hosts millions of biographies, an incremental percentage increase translates to tens of thousands of newly created, well-cited articles. Adding over 16,000 notable women ensures their contributions to science, art, history, and politics are documented in the world's primary online encyclopaedia.
Addressing the "Boy's Club"
Editor Demographics: Wikipedia's systemic bias isn't just about the content. It stems directly from the contributor base, which studies historically estimate to be roughly 80% to 90% male.
Structural Barriers: Male-dominated editor demographics often lead to unconscious bias in article retention, notable source evaluation, and community moderation, making targeted editor groups essential.
"Ada's Army" in Action
Mobilization: Invoking "Ada's Army"—a nod to Ada Lovelace, the pioneer of computer programming—symbolizes organized digital activism.
Edit-a-thons & Campaigns: Groups like WiR and specialized "armies" organize edit-a-thons, build reference lists, and train new editors to systematically create, translate, and expand biographies of women.
Closing the digital gender gap requires continuous work, but organized editing initiatives demonstrate how collective effort can actively reshape public history and digital memory.
Wikipedia seems to be One Big Boy's club so it was very important to get Ada's Army mobilized on the digital job!
Ada.Ada.Ada - #AdasArmy
‘Unravelling Wikipedia’s Mystery over Women’s History’
Written by David B. Grinberg – Washington, USA - ex White House, PR consultant, literary agent on workplace diversity, race and sex equity, social justice issues
