Year 11 helps address Wikipedia’s gender imbalance
Wikipedia has a diversity problem. Women make up just 12% of Wikipedia contributors and only 16% of individuals profiled. But it is a problem that can be fixed.
On 28 March, five students from Year 11 Legal Studies were given the opportunity to participate in the University of Sydney’s inaugural ‘Women in Wikipedia Edit-a-thon’. The goal of this event was to work towards correcting the gender imbalance in this global information source.
The day started with participants creating a Wikipedia profile before setting about to undertake research in order to develop a Wikipedia profile for a significant Australian woman of their choice. Supplied to participants was a list of over 200 women who, despite being leaders in their fields, were lacking representation on this platform. Fisher Library staff were on hand to guide participants through this process and provide them with valuable advice on developing an accurate, reliable and useful information source.
Lily Cannon, one of the five volunteer “Wikipedians” said she found it to be a very interesting day.
“I gained a lot of insight into the background development of Wikipedia information, whilst also exploring the life and accomplishments of a truly inspirational woman of her time”, Lily said.
Based on the conversations on the train ride back to school, the rest of the group all agreed with Lily’s sentiments.
Whilst we have a long way to go before the gender imbalance on Wikipedia is corrected, it was very satisfying to be part of a global movement to begin to address this problem. Many thanks to Mrs Corcoran and the staff at Sydney University Library and Sydney University Press for providing us with this opportunity.
