Difference between revisions of "Gender bias in Wikipedia"

Revision as of 18:00, 15 March 2019

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, makes knowledge sharing easy and accessible to a wide audience. Because anyone can access and edit Wikipedia with little training, the site offers a neutral setting to contribute one's personal expertise to a collective knowledge base. However, among other biases, a stark gender bias can be seen in both Wikipedia content and the culture of Wikipedia editing.

Evidence of the Gender Gap

Differences in Wikipedia Editors

Content Imbalances

Women-specific Characterization

Why Don't More Women Edit Wikipedia

Foundational Issues in Wikipedia

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia was originally founded to reflect a culture that encourages honest, diplomatic thought and neutral points of view. ^[1] The foundational structure of Wikipedia allows the editing of any pages with little policing, though a select group of editors keep a close watch on popular, well-visited pages. Because Wikipedia was meant to reflect the neutrality of an encyclopedia, one must look at the foundations of encyclopedia's themselves. Encyclopedias were originally developed to create a collective, foundational knowledge between educated men. ^[2]

This argument suggests the question: For whom was this knowledge sharing space created and who has inhabited this space the longest.

Harassment Online

Policing in a Male-Dominated Space

Survey Responses

Responsive Measures

Wikimedia Foundation Efforts

• WikiProject Women Scientists:
• WikiProject Women in Red:
• WikiProject Gender Gap Task Force:
• Inspire Campaign: Offers grants to
• Art+Feminism campaign:
• WikiWomenWeek:

Other External Efforts

• Wikid GRRLS: This project teaches online and research skills and encourages teenage girls in the Detroit area to participate in online discussion.

Other Suggestions

• not enough coverage in independent secondary sources about notable women and topics
• “a broader base of contributors and editors…would naturally help broaden our content” ^[3]
• “implementing a system to assess contributors’ actual expertise, deliver positive feedback, and provide training to increase female participation.” ^[4]

Ethical Concerns

Bias

Drachen Traffic Example/Wikipedia Articles

1. ↑ Emma Paling “Wikipedia’s Hostility to Women”, (The Atlantic, Technology, Oct 21 2015)
2. ↑ Emma Paling “Wikipedia’s Hostility to Women”, (The Atlantic, Technology, Oct 21 2015)
3. ↑ Katherine Maher “Wikipedia mirrors the world’s gender biases, it doesn’t cause them”, (The Los Angeles Times, Op-Ed, Oct 18 2018)
4. ↑ Nicole Torres “Why Do So Few Women Edit Wikipedia?” (Harvard Business Review, Gender, Jun 02 2016)