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Press release from Ministry for Foreign Affairs

More women on the internet thanks to WikiGap

Published

The global #WikiGap initiative has so far generated around 13 000 new or expanded biographies of prominent women on Wikipedia. More than 1 800 participants in almost 60 countries have been involved in WikiGap events, writing articles about women in more than 30 languages. Now all the material needed to organise a WikiGap event is being published in the hope that the project will live on through other actors.

WikiGap is an initiative during which people around the world gather to add more content to Wikipedia about women profiles, experts and role models in various fields. Starting on 8 March 2018 – International Women's Day – the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Swedish embassies, together with Wikimedia and local partners, have organised parallel edit-a-thons in almost 60 countries. The global initiative resulted in around 13 000 new or expanded Wikipedia articles on prominent women in more than 30 different languages. Now, one year on, the number of pageviews for these articles has exceeded 60 million.

It is now time to pass on the baton to other actors. A toolbox to facilitate organising a WikiGap event is being published under a Creative Commons licence on the campaign website www.swemfa.se/wikigap. The toolbox includes a step-by-step guide for organising WikiGap events, logos, communications materials and tips for those actors wanting to take the project forward. A special WikiGap film has also been produced, aimed at generating increased involvement by people throughout the world who want to help increase gender equality on Wikipedia.

WikiGap is part of Sweden's feminist foreign policy, which is based on the ambition to strengthen women's and girls' rights, representation and resources. Through the writing of new, and expanding on existing, articles on Wikipedia, WikiGap is helping to improve women's representation on the internet.

Press contact

Julia Kviberg
Press Officer
Phone 072-248 3064
email to Julia Kviberg
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