Kenya's Progress in Closing Gender Gaps on Wikipedia Highlighted in New Campaign

A new initiative aimed at bridging the gender gap has been unveiled.

In commemoration of International Women’s Day 2024 and alignment with its theme “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress,” Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind Wikipedia, has announced the launch of its “Wikipedia Needs More Women” campaign.

In a statement, Wikimedia Foundation’s Chief Communications Officer Anusha Alikhan stated that the campaign will celebrate the efforts taken around the world to improve gender equity on Wikipedia projects.

“The campaign celebrates efforts around the world, including Africa, to improve gender equity on Wikimedia projects and invites others to get involved,” she stated.

Alikhan has pointed out that women have been left out of historical narratives and traditional sources of knowledge, stating that this has greatly catalyzed the underrepresentation of women on Wikipedia.

“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 underrepresented,” she noted

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Chief Communications Officer stressed on the need for journalists, academics, thought leaders, and individuals and organizations across the information landscape to increase their coverage of women which will help Wikipedia volunteers elevate their content on women.

Masana Mulaudzi, who is the Senior Manager of Campaign Organizing at the Foundation supports organizers working to advance knowledge equity, with a primary focus on gender equity, across the globe.

She asserts that there is an imbalance in the information available about or by women on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects

However, Wikimedia has acknowledged that there has been a 26% improvement in the number of biographies and other content about women from Kenya on Wikimedia projects for the past two years.

“This growth is a testament to the positive impact of the initiatives and objectives of the women-led Wikimedia Community User Group Kenya. We invite everyone to join initiatives worldwide to bridge knowledge gaps on Wikipedia and beyond,” she emphasized.