“So often, we hear that girls in science need more role models and inspiration. We’re asked, ‘Where are the women in science?’, as if we’re not already here.”
— Jess Wade & Maryam Zaringhalam

Wikipedia is one of the most highly trafficked websites in the world, but only around 19 percent of English Wikipedia biographies are about women. 500 Women Scientists has designed programming to ensure the contributions of women and people from gender minorities leading in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) are reflected in the world’s largest free encyclopedia for all to discover.

In the past four years, we’ve created and edited more than 3,000 pages, which have been viewed more than 80 million times: 80 million opportunities to share diverse stories of those working in STEMM, and to slowly change the face of science. Explore our impact here.

How to get involved

  • Join a Wiki-thon: Participate in one of our Wikipedia Edit-a-thons for an introduction into why representation on Wikipedia matters and how to make your first edits with a community of supportive peers.

  • Partner with us: If you are part of an organization that would like to host a Wiki-thon, email us at wiki@500womenscientists.org to explore options for partnerships. We have leveraged our network of volunteer editors to support partnerships with mission-aligned organizations like SACNAS and Science Friday.

  • Take a Wiki Education Course: We’ve partnered with Wiki Education to run more in-depth six-week trainings for Pod members to become experts in creating and editing biographies for women in STEMM. The deadline to apply to our next course is Friday, September 24, 2021.

  • Institutions can help to close Wikipedia’s gender gap: As we’ve guided nearly 800 editors through their first edits during edit-a-thons, we’ve encountered a number of recurring challenges. In Nature, we’ve outlined four of these challenges, and what institutions can do to help to change things for the better.

Upcoming Wiki-thons

500 Women Scientists has partnered with Wiki Education to provide our network with the opportunity to take a deeper dive into editing Wikipedia. Over the course of six weeks, learn how to edit and create biographies for women and gender minorities leading in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM). Participants in these courses are then expected to share their expertise as regular Wikipedia editors and Wiki-thon volunteers, helping us increase our impact and inspire the next generation of scientists in the process.

Want to join a future 500 Wiki Women Scientists Cohort? Check back on this page for updates!

Testimonials from past participants

Headshot of Maggie Tam “I enjoyed the comradeship,” she says. “Once a week, I get to spend my lunch hour with other women scientists from different parts of the world, all working towards creating biographies to improve representation on Wikipedia.” — Maggie Tam, Communications Committee Co-Chair for Females in Mass Spectrometry. Read more…
Headshot of Britt Forsberg “I was amazed at the number of page views our articles had just in the small time we worked in the cohort so I think it’s clear that Wikipedia is a major player and that people pay attention to what is posted there. It’s very important that Wikipedia users can see themselves somewhere in Wikipedia.” — Britt Forsberg, program coordinator for the Minnesota Master Naturalist program. Read more…
Headshot of Adriana Bankston “I was excited to try my hand at editing articles that I felt could have an impact in the community by elevating voices of People of Color in science. I chose to edit articles on Shirley Malcom, Melina Abdullah and Lori White, which taught me a lot.” — Adriana Bankston, Principal Legislative Analyst at University of California. Read more…
Headshot of Samantha Kao “During my first week of Wiki Education’s course, I learned two astonishing facts that I would repeat nearly every time I told someone about my participation in this program: roughly 80-85% of Wikipedia editors are white males and only about 17% of Wikipedia biographies feature women. I immediately knew I would focus on biographies of female mathematicians.” – Samantha Kao, graduate student. Read more…
Headshot of Chelsea Sutcliffe “It was incredibly satisfying to help create a page for someone I so respected.” – Chelsea Sutcliffe, post-doctoral research fellow in earth sciences. Read more…
Headshot of Karen Kwon “How can I act as a counterbalancing force, I often wondered, while working as a full-time chemistry graduate student? Editing the articles on Wikipedia – the fifth most visited website in the world – to improve the visibility of women scientists and their work sounded like the perfect opportunity for me. It also didn’t hurt that all the work could be done remotely via the web; I didn’t have to leave my graduate school work behind.” – Karen Kwon, graduate student in chemistry. Read more…

Building on Wikipedia’s guide on how to run an effective edit-a-thon, here are some tips to consider as you plan your own event to increase visibility of scientists from underrepresented backgrounds. (Tips from leader Maryam Zaringhalam published in Science Rising)

  • Tap into the local Wikimedia network. Wikipedia is run by dedicated volunteers who feel passionately about democratizing access to information. You can find a Wikimedia chapter near you and reach out in advance for support. Editing can be intimidating at first, so experienced Wikipedians are a valuable asset to lead you through the process. Megan Wacha facilitated our edit-a-thon in New York and her expertise and guidance to “be bold!” helped make our event a great success. If a Wikipedian isn’t in your area, you can work through this beginner’s guide as a group.

  • Be clear about your goals in advance. Make the problem and the need clear in the text of your event. Carry that goal with you during the planning stages—from where you advertise to factoring in accessibility when you choose a venue. Your goal will also attract an audience that is excited to tackle the challenge you’ve set out and foster an inclusive environment because they understand what to expect.

  • Prepare a list of pages to create. There are so many women and minorities who don’t yet have a Wikipedia page that it can be daunting to figure out where to start. Before our edit-a-thon, I crowdsourced a list of women who should have pages and filtered for those who I thought would meet the notability criteria. Creating a list is also a great way to get to learn about scientists you’d never heard of before!

  • Make your event interactive. Just because you’re in front of a computer doesn’t mean you have to be quiet in your own Wikipedia bubble. We organized ourselves into tables by different disciplines to facilitate conversations. We also had plenty of drinks and snacks to encourage breaks and get editors to share what they’d been working. At the end, we had everyone share what they had edited and what they had learned—from a new field of research to the fact that finding information on underrepresented minorities can be a challenge because of publishing or media bias.

  • Keep track. Wikimedia has launched a nifty Programs and Events dashboard, which allows you to keep track of the edits made over the course of your edit-a-thon and how much they’ve been viewed since. The tool is especially useful if you’re tracking impact to justify funding to continue hosting edit-a-thons in the future. If you use this tool, be sure to request the appropriate event coordinator privileges in advance and encourage attendees to register before your event begins.

  • It doesn’t have to end after the edit-a-thon! Making Wikipedia pages is a great activity to bring with you after the edit-a-thon so you can continue increasing representation for women and underrepresented minorities online.

If you have questions about hosting your own edit-a-thon,get in touch with is at info@500womenscientists.org.

Resources

500 Women Scientists is on its way to becoming a powerful organization representing the voices of tens of thousands of women scientists all over the globe. With your gift we can pay for the vital infrastructure we need. Plus, your donations help keep 500WS resources free and open, one less barrier to women in science.