The lack of women journalists on Wikipedia is sometimes shocking. Among entries, the Women Do News network has added so far are women who are pioneers for Asian Americans (like Lori Matsukawa), who covered high-profile trials for 50 years (like Linda Deutsch), and who were the first women editors in their newsrooms (like Betsy Wade). They have won Emmys and Murrows (like Tonya Mosley) and Pulitzers (like Lisa Song) — but unlike men with similar credentials, they couldn’t get that coveted prize of a Wikipedia page! That’s where we come in as volunteers and trainers and organizers.
- We write and edit entries to add to Wikipedia.
- We identify women who deserve more recognition and work to get citations to build their profiles so they can get well-cited entries on Wikipedia.
- We hold Edit-a-Thons and workshops to build the roster, edit entries and teach others how to contribute to the work.
More places to read about Women Do News
- Now on Wikipedia: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (née St. Pierre; August 31, 1842 – March 13, 1924[1]) was an African-American publisher, journalist, civil rights leader, suffragist, and editor of the Woman’s Era, the first national newspaper published by and for African-American women.
- Now on Medium: Wikimedia Foundation on Women Do News
- Now on Wikipedia: Juleyka Lantigua
Juleyka Lantigua (formerly known as Juleyka Lantigua-Williams) is an American journalist and entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of the podcast production company Lantigua Williams & Co., which rebranded in 2021 to LWC Studios as part of a reorganization and expansion. She has won a number of awards for her work, including a Peabody award in 2020.
Learn more about gender bias on Wikipedia and in journalism
- A 2021 Wikimedia Foundation report on inclusion
The Wikimedia Foundation just released survey results on “awareness, trust, and feelings of representation that people have in our work and projects, including Wikipedia.” Here are some topline findings about women on Wikipedia:
- Women, across communities, are far more skeptical of Wikipedia’s support of social/equity movements.
- Black women and Hispanic women have the lowest engagement rates with Wikipedia, and have negative views of Wikipedia when it comes to inclusivity and support for racial and gender equality.
- Asian women have high awareness and are heavy users of Wikipedia, but feel unrepresented on the platform.
- White women have high awareness but relatively low engagement, and are highly skeptical of Wikipedia’s inclusivity, specifically in regard to Wikipedia’s racial and gender equality values.
- Class Project: Addressing Gender Bias on Wikipedia
Meg Heckman at Northeastern University writes about how her class worked with Women Do News: “Helping to create these entries was a bright spot in an otherwise difficult semester, but my students’ struggle to find source material was also a reminder that, as Eckert and Steiner (2013) put it, ‘The internet is not free of ‘real’ world hierarchies.'” Read the full essay in Media Report to Women.
- Ms. Categorized: Gender, notability, and inequality on Wikipedia
A study led by Francesca Tripodi in the journal New Media & Society finds that 19% of Wikipedia’s 1.5 million biographies are about women. Edit-a-thons help address the problem but there are issues to explore about who should be considered notable for Wikipedia. For the shorter version, hear Tripodi on NPR.
Bookmark these resources and organizations
- Wikipedia’s hub for educators
Wikipedia maintains a hub for educators interested in using Wikipedia in the classroom. Check it out for tips, tutorials and case studies illustrating how other instructors are using Wikipedia editing in their classrooms. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a list of printable tip sheets.
- A 2021 Wikimedia Foundation report on inclusion
The Wikimedia Foundation just released survey results on “awareness, trust, and feelings of representation that people have in our work and projects, including Wikipedia.” Here are some topline findings about women on Wikipedia:
- Women, across communities, are far more skeptical of Wikipedia’s support of social/equity movements.
- Black women and Hispanic women have the lowest engagement rates with Wikipedia, and have negative views of Wikipedia when it comes to inclusivity and support for racial and gender equality.
- Asian women have high awareness and are heavy users of Wikipedia, but feel unrepresented on the platform.
- White women have high awareness but relatively low engagement, and are highly skeptical of Wikipedia’s inclusivity, specifically in regard to Wikipedia’s racial and gender equality values.
- Art + Feminism
Art + Feminism is a big inspiration for Women Do News, but they have also created amazing resources to make it easy to learn to edit in Wikipedia. AND they put it in the public domain, which helped us get started in creating our program.
- Women in Red
Women in Red is a project that has been a huge inspiration and support for Women Do News. If you want to get involved in broader issues of gender parity on Wikipedia, start here.
- Who Makes the News
Who Makes the News is a knowledge, information and resource portal on media, gender and other axes of discrimination. It hosts the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), the world’s largest and longest running research and advocacy initiative that seeks to advance gender equality in and through the news media.
Join the movement
Sign up to tell us who you think needs to be recognized on Wikipedia. We’ll send you the form to make a nomination and also introduce you to women who do news once a week. You’ll also get links to assignments and instructions about how to add or edit articles!