Meet the participants |
Welcome to Women in Red (WiR)! We are a group of editors of all genders living around the world focused on improving content systemic bias in the wiki movement. We recognized a need for this work as, in October 2014, only 15.53% of English Wikipedia's biographies were about women. Founded in July 2015, WiR strives to increase the percentage, which has reached 18.23% as of 27 January 2020. But that means, according to WHGI, only 306,677 of our 1,682,680 biographies are about women. Not impressed? "Content gender gap" is a form of systemic bias, and WiR addresses it in a positive way through shared values.
Wikipedia
Our Wikipedia WikiProject focuses on creating content regarding women's biographies, women's works, and women's issues. Our editors create articles in many different language Wikipedias. The objective is to turn "redlinks" into blue ones. That's why we are called "Women in Red".
We take an inclusive view towards subject matter, editors, and language communities:
- Editors: We do not focus on the gender of the editor. Anyone/everyone is welcome to be a member, participant, enthusiast of Women in Red. If you participate in WiR, you can join up officially using the box in the top right-hand corner of this page. You are also welcome to add our userbox template
{{User WikiProject Women in Red}}
to your user page, to produce:
|
- Language communities: While Women in Red began on English Wikipedia, it is an international commitment with dozens of other language communities. Please add a link to your language's coordination page here.
- Subject matter:
- If the subject of the article self-identifies as a woman—binary and/or non-binary and/or other, that person is included within the scope of Women in Red.
- In addition to creating new articles, we create and maintain hundreds of lists of "missing" notable women. Some who these women have an article on some language Wikipedia, while others have no article in any Wikipedia. We call these lists, "redlists".
- Click on our Redlinks index to see our lists of missing articles by focus area, occupation and nationality. Like everything else on Wikipedia, this is incomplete, so feel free to add pertinent items to our crowd-sourced lists.
- While all redlists have redlinks, our redlists are generated in numerous ways:
- crowd-sourced (example, Crafts)
- Wikidata-generated (example, Herpetologists)
- based on a dictionary or other reference book (example, Encyclopédie Larousse)
- based on a website (example, BBC 100 Women)
- based on an international Authority Control (example, VIAF)
WikiCommons
In support of #VisibleWikiWomen, our members add and improve images of women, women's works, and women's issues to WikiCommons.
Wikidata
We create and improve Wikidata items related to women, women's works, and women's issues.
See also
Learn more about our work, including Press and Research.
The former Announcements page is being kept for editing history.
Events
- This section is a transcluded subpage, and may contain more information than is shown here. To view or edit, go to /Events.
Welcome to Women in Red!
Home | Article alerts | Essays | Events | Ideas & planning | Images | Join | Metrics | Outreach | Redlist index | Research | Resources | Showcase | Social media | Tools & tech |
Events
Unless otherwise stated, all of our events are "online".
Ongoing initiatives
New for this month
Recently completed
Upcoming events
Previous events
Lists of red links
WiR works by filling in missing articles based on extensive lists of needed topics. The index to our wide range of topics and nationalities can be found at the Redlist index. Please make these red links blue. Notable women without a Wikipedia biography can be added to any crowd-sourced redlists they match; and added to wikidata such that they're included in wikidata-derived redlists. We also have a guide to adding names to redlists.
Article alerts
See Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Women for articles about women that are nominated for deletion.
- This section is a transcluded subpage, and may contain more information than is shown here. To view or edit, go to /Article alerts.
- This section is a transcluded subpage, and may contain more information than is shown here. To view or edit, go to /Article alerts (watch this section).
- Note: This report is based on the {{WIR}} banners of WikiProject Women in Red. If an article isn't listed here, first verify that it has one of those banners. If it has another women-related banner, like {{WikiProject Women}}, {{WikiProject Women's History}} or {{WikiProject Women scientists}}, look on those projects' article alert pages instead.
Today's featured article requests
- 25 Jul 2024 – Phoolan Devi (talk · · hist) has been proposed for Today's Featured Article by Mujinga (t · c); see discussion
Did you know
- 21 May 2024 – Mary A. Wray (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Xoak (t · c); see discussion
- 17 May 2024 – Gladys Cromwell (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Xoak (t · c); see discussion
- 17 May 2024 – Bianca Babb (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Xoak (t · c); see discussion
- 17 May 2024 – Anna Russell Cole (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Xoak (t · c); see discussion
- 15 May 2024 – Marie Catharine Neal (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Xoak (t · c); see discussion
- 15 May 2024 – Mary Ann Wells (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Xoak (t · c); see discussion
- 15 May 2024 – Grace A. Johnson (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Xoak (t · c); see discussion
- 12 May 2024 – Rachel Brem (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Mary Mark Ockerbloom (t · c); see discussion
- 12 May 2024 – Lillie Shockney (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Mary Mark Ockerbloom (t · c); see discussion
- 10 May 2024 – Shirley Warde (talk · · hist) was nominated for DYK by Silver seren (t · c); see discussion
- (3 more...)
Articles for deletion
- 22 May 2024 – Nadine Rohr (talk · · hist) was AfDed by Shinadamina (t · c); see discussion (1 participant)
- 21 May 2024 – Margaret Adamson (talk · · hist) was AfDed by Uhooep (t · c); see discussion (1 participant)
- 21 May 2024 – Angela Corcoran (talk · · hist) was AfDed by Uhooep (t · c); see discussion (1 participant)
- 21 May 2024 – Carey Schueler (talk · · hist) was AfDed by The Legendary Ranger (t · c); see discussion (5 participants)
- 21 May 2024 – Corinne Silva (talk · · hist) was AfDed by Seaweed (t · c); see discussion (2 participants)
- 21 May 2024 – Lyazzat Tanysbay (talk · · hist) was AfDed by BoraVoro (t · c); see discussion (1 participant)
- 21 May 2024 – Amélie Chekroun (talk · · hist) was AfDed by Dclemens1971 (t · c); see discussion (3 participants)
- 21 May 2024 – Nicola Rosenblum (talk · · hist) was AfDed by Uhooep (t · c); see discussion (2 participants)
- 21 May 2024 – Ruth Adler (diplomat) (talk · · hist) was AfDed by Uhooep (t · c); see discussion (2 participants)
- 21 May 2024 – Instagram face (talk · · hist) was AfDed by Cassie Schebel (t · c); see discussion (4 participants)
- (111 more...)
Featured article candidates
- 18 May 2024 – Addie Viola Smith (talk · · hist) was FA nominated by Voorts (t · c); see discussion
Good article nominees
- 17 May 2024 – Hurra-yi Khuttali (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Amir Ghandi (t · c); start
- 23 Mar 2024 – Cecelia Hall (mezzo-soprano) (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Gerda Arendt (t · c); start
- 19 Dec 2023 – Lashauwn Beyond (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by Another Believer (t · c); see discussion
- 11 Dec 2023 – Nina Popova (official) (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by SusunW (t · c); start
- 16 Nov 2023 – Women's International Democratic Federation (talk · · hist) was GA nominated by SusunW (t · c); start
Articles for creation
- 22 May 2024 – Draft:Marsha Perelman (talk · · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Sloane05 (t · c)
- 20 May 2024 – Draft:Meekyoung Shin (talk · · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Dalmationrotary (t · c)
- 05 May 2024 – Draft:Kerstin Preiwuß (talk · · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Takeru Watanabe (t · c)
- 02 May 2024 – Draft:Khadijeh Mirdamadi (talk · · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Claggy (t · c)
- 30 Apr 2024 – Draft:Arrest of Silva Harotonian (talk · · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Claggy (t · c)
- 21 Apr 2024 – Draft:Anja Utler (talk · · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Takeru Watanabe (t · c)
- 11 Apr 2024 – Draft:Bahar Atish (talk · · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Harold Krabs (t · c)
- 19 May 2024 – Draft:Maha Ali Kazmi (talk · · hist) submitted for AfC by 2400:ADC1:15C:AF00:E1DD:FD0E:97C2:EA9C (t · c) was declined by Saqib (t · c) on 19 May 2024
- 15 May 2024 – Draft:Zitella Cocke (talk · · hist) submitted for AfC by LeapTorchGear (t · c) was moved to Zitella Cocke (talk · · hist) by Theroadislong (t · c) on 17 May 2024
- 27 Apr 2024 – Draft:Arrest of Vincent Boon Falleur and Idesbald van den Bosch (talk · · hist) submitted for AfC by Claggy (t · c) was declined by Scope creep (t · c) on 17 May 2024
- (2 more...)
Declined drafts
Thanks firstly to Ronhjones, and now to Galobtter, we have a bot showing declined drafts submitted to AfC. Weekly updates highlight those most recently listed under New Additions. With a little bit of attention, some of them could well be moved to mainspace, encouraging the editors who created them to progress on Wikipedia.
Resources and research
WiR maintains resources to help you contribute, including lists of topical books and external links, information on editing in general, and contacts you can reach out to for specific needs. They can be found at Resources.
Academic research on Wikipedia's content gender gap is also documented at Research.
Metrics
- This section is a transcluded subpage, containing more information than is shown here. To view detailed month-by-month results or to edit, go to Metrics.
About: additional details
The articles created for any month, including the current month, can be displayed by clicking on one of the months in the archive box.
We track the articles we create each month. Reports bot updates these lists automatically, but you can manually add and annotate entries. The bot will remove non-existent pages. More details about the bot. Our metrics talkpage is here: Metrics talkpage
The evolving list for this month (see Archives box) is created by the bot which lists new women's biographies on the basis of their female gender on Wikidata. At present, the bot does not list women's works, associations or related articles but you are encouraged to add these to the list manually. A WiR Wikidata page provides information on how you can help ensure WiR metrics are up-to-date.
The graph shows the number of articles created each month. The apparent decrease for the current month reflects the number of articles created up to today's date. Only data on completed months indicate overall progress.
For personal metrics on how many articles you've created about women, see this tool.
If you want to measure gender diversity in a given Wikipedia article, use this tool.
Totals at a glance
Year | Portion if applicable |
Total | Daily average |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | 18 Jul - 31 Dec | 11,711 | 70 |
2016 | 28,399 | 77 | |
2017 | 28,271 | 77 | |
2018 | 27,323 | 75 | |
2019 | 27,207 | 75 | |
2020 | 30,119 | 82 | |
2021 | 26,780 | 73 | |
2022 | 18,893 | 52 | |
2023 | 17,925 | 49 | |
2024 | |||
Grand total | 216,628 |
Updated: Rosiestep (talk) 17:31, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
Summary of Women in Red statistics from main page
Date | Women | Bios | Percentage | Increase in % for year |
Increase in Women for year |
Increase in Bios for year |
Percentage for year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
30-Sep-2015 | 205,814 | 1,299,047 | 15.84% | ||||
1-Jan-2017 | 240,445 | 1,432,907 | 16.78% | 0.94% | 34,631 | 133,860 | 25.87% |
1-Jan-2018 | 262,099 | 1,509,348 | 17.37% | 0.58% | 21,654 | 76,441 | 28.33% |
31-Dec-2018 | 279,959 | 1,573,341 | 17.79% | 0.43% | 17,860 | 63,993 | 27.91% |
30-Dec-2019 | 305,072 | 1,678,323 | 18.18% | 0.38% | 25,113 | 104,982 | 23.92% |
11-Jan-2021 | 332,622 | 1,778,126 | 18.71% | 0.53% | 27,550 | 99,803 | 27.60% |
3-Jan-2022 | 356,439 | 1,865,516 | 19.11% | 0.40% | 23,817 | 87,390 | 27.25% |
2-Jan-2023 | 373,263 | 1,921,359 | 19.43% | 0.32% | 16,824 | 55,843 | 30.13% |
1-Jan-2024 | 390,207 | 1,978,991 | 19.72% | 0.29% | 16,944 | 57,632 | 29.40% |
Total | 184,393 | 679,944 | 27.12% |
Note: the September 2015 figure was reported here.
Updated by: TSventon (talk) 22:04, 16 May 2024 (UTC)
Further background on metrics
As a result of figures presented by Humaniki, we keep posting on the main Women in Red page the percentage of women's biographies on the English version of Wikipedia. Increases are steady but marginal: for example from July 2022 to July 2023, the percentage has risen from around 19.3% to around 19.6%.
Thanks to an analysis presented by Andrew Gray on the WIR talk page, it certainly looks as if the number of men and women involved in sports has a significant influence on the statistics for women. A detailed account of Gray's work is presented in "Gender and BLPs on Wikipedia, redux", which he published on 2 August 2023.
The two lists below show that biographies of living people (BLPs) born in recent years are approximately 50% female if data on all categories of athletes are excluded. By contrast, the equivalent overall figures (including athletes) are only around 25%. As a result, biographies of very large numbers of male sportspeople seem to be responsible for the huge difference. Andrew Gray's detailed lists below document how figures for BLPs by year of birth have evolved over the years:
Overall development of BLPs since the 1920s for all biographies
- Missing birth year BLPs - 150,574, of which 53,355 female - 35.4%
- 1920s birth BLPs - 5,096, of which 1,325 female - 26.0%
- 1930s birth BLPs - 39,055, of which 7,086 female - 18.1%
- 1940s birth BLPs - 95,602, of which 18,495 female - 19.3%
- 1950s birth BLPs - 128,518, of which 27,172 female - 21.1%
- 1960s birth BLPs - 145,300, of which 33,390 female - 23.0%
- 1970s birth BLPs - 150,539, of which 37,893 female - 25.2%
- 1980s birth BLPs - 171,072, of which 42,880 female - 25.1%
- 1990s birth BLPs - 150,880, of which 36,944 female - 24.5%
- 2000s birth BLPs - 30,042, of which 7,542 female - 25.1%
Development of BLPs since the 1920s for biographies excluding athletes
If we discount all athletes using the infobox method, the results are:
- Missing birth year BLPs - 140,177, of which 51,021 female - 36.4%
- 1920s birth BLPs - 4,321, of which 1,228 female - 28.4%
- 1930s birth BLPs - 28,978, of which 6,161 female - 21.2%
- 1940s birth BLPs - 73,095, of which 16,566 female - 22.7%
- 1950s birth BLPs - 95,893, of which 23,644 female - 24.7%
- 1960s birth BLPs - 96,175, of which 26,632 female - 27.8%
- 1970s birth BLPs - 81,682, of which 27,562 female - 33.7%
- 1980s birth BLPs - 58,078, of which 24,816 female - 42.7%
- 1990s birth BLPs - 23,281, of which 11,754 female - 50.5%
- 2000s birth BLPs - 2,850, of which 1,539 female - 54.0%
Showcase
WiR is amazing and has way too much to showcase here. Please see Showcase for our recent and past achievements.
Recent Did You Know? blurbs
These are the 20 most recent WP:DYK entries for WiR. Updated approximately weekly by User:JL-Bot.
- ... that although Agnes Kimball was a popular recording artist of opera and musical theatre, she never appeared as a singing actress on the stage? (2024-05-14)
- ... that actress Edna May Sperl's fiancé was arrested on the day of her wedding by a federal marshal because her fiancé's father opposed the marriage? (2024-05-12)
- ... that Addie Viola Smith was the first female Foreign Service officer to serve under the United States Department of Commerce? (2024-05-11)
- ... that actress Agnes Mapes had to improvise a complex choreographed dance from basic poses for the 1907 play The Holy City? (2024-05-05)
- ... that soprano Olga von Türk-Rohn (pictured) was celebrated for her interpretations of Franz Schubert's lieder? (2024-04-30)
- ... that the healthcare campaigner who pioneered organ donor cards in the UK placed a personal advertisement in The Times looking for a "cadaver kidney" for her son? (2024-04-30)
- ... that Iona Allen, "the only one to ever make a perfect pair of boots", constructed the pair worn by Neil Armstrong on the Moon out of thirteen layers of precisely fabricated material? (2024-04-25)
- ... that the young Turkish open water swimmer Aysu Türkoğlu has completed three of the Oceans Seven series? (2024-04-24)
- ... that before becoming a voice actress, Miyuki Ichijo left the NHK music variety show Stage 101 in protest over the removal of its director? (2024-04-22)
- ... that Full Personality Expression was an organization for cross-dressers that was originally called the Hose & Heels Club? (2024-04-14)
- ... that Alda Milner-Barry, the older sister of World War II Enigma codebreaker Stuart Milner-Barry, worked for British military intelligence during World War I? (2024-04-14)
- ... that Turkish sport shooter Şimal Yılmaz, who qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics, had a shooting range in her living room? (2024-04-12)
- ... that The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, Jo Clifford's 2009 play featuring Jesus as a trans woman, was called an "offensive abuse of Christian beliefs" by Archbishop Mario Conti? (2024-04-08)
- ... that food stylist Susan Spungen estimated that she baked hundreds of pies with Josh Brolin and film staff while practicing for a scene in Labor Day? (2024-04-07)
- ... that Ellen Bernstein was called the "birthmother of Jewish environmentalism"? (2024-04-07)
- ... that the anarchist Rosa Laviña opened the first vegetarian restaurant in Tolosa? (2024-04-06)
- ... that Hildegard Temporini-Gräfin Vitzthum arrived at the University of Tübingen as a student in 1959, and remained there until her death in 2004? (2024-04-05)
- ... that in 1940 Xu Ruiyun became the first Chinese woman to receive a PhD in mathematics? (2024-04-03)
- ... that the Canadian League for Peace and Democracy organized a 10,000-person rally at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto to protest a 2,500-person fascist rally? (2024-04-03)
- ... that Esther Merle Jackson, as a specialist in theatre and dance education at the United States Office of Education, intended to expand theater's role in the Great Society? (2024-03-31)
Transcluding 20 of 2695 total
Press
There has been considerable press coverage of WiR. Below are some recent articles. To add articles to the list, visit Press.
- Physicist embroiled in sexism row with Wikipedia after female scientists she wrote profiles for 'not notable enough', article by Phoebe Southworth in The Telegraph, 7 December 2019
- "Most Wikipedia profiles are about men - these women in Australia are hoping to change that". SBS News. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- “Inclusipedia” brings underrepresented people of Boulder to light, article by Isabella Fincher, CuiIndependent, 25 May 2019
- Seeking Equality—One Biography at a Time, Kochi Post, 8 May 2019, Ardra Manasi
- Male scientists are often cast as lone geniuses. Here’s what happened when a woman was., Vox article by Brian Resnick, 16 April 2019.
- Wikipedia Isn’t Officially a Social Network. But the Harassment Can Get Ugly, by Julia Jacobs, New York Times, 8 April 2019.
- Why we need to address the digital divide if we want to foster more democratic societies, OuiShare
- Why policymakers need to tackle the digital gender gap, Open Global Rights
- Students inspired by York University Libraries make impressive edits to Wikipedia, by Katrina Cohen-Palacios, yFile: York University News, 26 March 2019
- RIT Libraries hosts Women on Wikipedia Edit-a-thon March 22, by Susan Gawlowicz, Rochester Institute of Technology News, 21 March 2019
- Event at RIT aims to improve online gender equity, by Beth Adams, WXXI News, 19 March 2019
- Wiki women: Volunteers add female and non-binary artists to Wikipedia, CBC, 15 March 2019
- Boulder Group is Rewriting History One Wikipedia Article at a Time, by Daliah Singer, 5280, 15 March 2019
- Libraries’ day-long Wiki Edit-a-thon to help shrink gender gap, by Jill Shockey, Penn State News, 15 March 2019
- Cornell Celebrates International Women’s Day with Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon, by Chantal Raguin, The Cornell Daily Sun, 10 March 2019
- Edit-a-thon aims to give recognition to more women, arts on Wikipedia, by Alexsandra Coltun Schneider, Daily Bruin, 11 March 2019
- ICA holds ‘Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon’ to increase female, gender non-binary representation online, by Jennifer Suryadjaja, The Daily Free Press, 7 March 2019 Wikipedia ‘Edit-a-Thon’ translates Spanish entries on Latin artists], by Jesenia De Moya Correa, The Inquirer, 6 March 2019
- Fine Arts Library to Host Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon, University of Arkansas News, 4 March 2019
- Wikipedia ‘Edit-a-Thon’ translates Spanish entries on Latin artists, by Jesenia De Moya Correa, The Inquirer, 6 March 2019
- UNC libraries give feminism a voice with Wikipedia edit-a-thon, by Ava Eucker, The Daily Tar Heel, 3 May 2019
- UNLV hosts feminist 'edit-a-thon' on Wikipedia, by Jesse Stiller, CampusReform, 26 February 2019
- Women scientists being whitewashed from Wikipedia, by Ewan McAndrew, Siobhan O’Connor, Dr Sara Thomas and Dr Alice White in The Scotsman, 12 March 2019
- Volunteers work to bolster Canadian women's biographies on Wikipedia, by Paul Chiasson, the Canadian Press, 8 March 2019
- The Royal Society are shouting out diversity champions on National Science Day - and we feature - Victuallers (talk) 15:21, 11 February 2019 (UTC)
- Happy 18th birthday, Wikipedia. Let’s celebrate the Internet’s good grown-up., by Stephen Harrison, The Washington Post, 14 January 2019
- From Chinese spies to award-winning geologists, we’re making women visible on Wikipedia, by Ewan McAndrew, Sioban O'Connor, Sara Thomas and Alice White, New Statesman, 8 January 2019
Academia
Academic papers on gender bias in Wikipedia (as recorded in Wikidata) are listed in Scholia.
To include a paper, create an item about it on Wikidata (check first to avoid duplicates) and give it main subject (P921) = gender bias on Wikipedia (Q17002416).
External links
- Women in Red on Twitter
- Interest in women's history began much earlier than is assumed, Phys Org, August 25, 2015