2019:Diversity/The Equal Edit
 | This is an Accepted submission for the Diversity space at Wikimania 2019. |
Title
The Equal Edit - a panel discussion on gender diversity
Description
The Equal Edit - an initiative by Wikimedia Sweden, the Wikimedia Foundation, and collaborators to make Wikipedia more gender equal.
The United Nations has made gender equality a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), describing it as “not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.” Aligned with this objective, the Wikimedia movement, embracing knowledge equity for all, has long undertaken efforts to improve the representation of women on Wikipedia.
Building off existing efforts in gender equity and the Wikimedia movement, including those by WikiGap, last month Swedish volunteers collaborated to make Wikipedia articles about the history of Sweden more gender equal. Working with Historiskan, Sweden’s first women’s history magazine, the group helped create a toolkit of notable women and resources about them to include in Swedish Wikipedia articles.
In this 45 minute panel, we will hear representatives from Wikimedia Sweden, the Editor in Chief of Historiskan, and Wikipedians active in gender equality talk about the initiative, the challenges of tackling gender equity, and how communities across the globe might work together to make our projects more inclusive and representative of women.
Relationship to the theme
This session will address the conference theme — Wikimedia, Free Knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals — in the following manner:
- The discussion has implications for several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals aligned with this year’s conference theme. Most notably, the conversation itself focuses on gender equity, SDG goal 5, however it affects the impact of goal 4, quality education, based on Wikipedia’s role as a source of knowledge and the importance we place on accurate, balanced and comprehensive information.
Session outcomes
At the end of the session, the following will have been achieved:
- Input and reflections on the initiative, with ideas on how to run similar initiatives for other international communities who might want to host a similar campaign.
- Recommendations for attendees on how to develop an effective toolkit and creative campaign focused on closing knowledge gaps on Wikimedia.
Session leader(s)
- Anna Torres
- Sam Lien
E-mail contact
- slien@wikimedia.
- Email 2
Session type
Each Space at Wikimania 2019 will have specific format requests. The program design prioritises submissions which are future-oriented and directly engage the audience. The format of this submission is a:
- Panel Discussion
Length of session
45 minutes
Requirements
The session will work best with these conditions: 60 minutes
The session will work best with these conditions:
- Room: Lecture theatre
- Audience: 100
- Recording: Yes