Wikipedia Has A Problem – There Aren't Enough Women

Wikipedia has become an intrinsic part of everyday life. It is more than just a repository of human knowledge; its ubiquity means it plays a real part in shaping our society.

- Helen Pankhurst

English-language Wikipedia gets more than 250 million page views a day. Sometimes we are looking for a source of credible information in a targeted search, at other times we end up exploring the infinity of hyperlinks as one random question leads to another in a solo or group quest for answers.

Yet if we stand back to think about what is recorded and what is not, whose lives and achievements are documented on Wikipedia and whose are not, and who puts in the entries and what perspectives they hold, it becomes clear that the online encyclopedia mirrors society. It reflects existing inequalities and crucially even magnifies them. Wikipedia’s unique democratisation of editorial rights, where any individual can theoretically tinker with or remove information, can intensify this magnification.

Of the nearly 1.9 million biographies of notable individuals on English-language Wikipedia – from authors to scientists, celebrities and academics, politicians and sportspeople – a mere 19 per cent are women. This mirrors unequal representation more generally.