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Wikimedia Foundation/Communications/Project Rewrite

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Women’s History Month takes place every year in March, in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. International Women’s Day falls on March 8th of every year, corresponding with Women's History Month, and is a day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Wikimedia Foundation communications team launched Project Rewrite in March 2021, an initiative to raise awareness of the gender gap in the information landscape, which is a root cause of the gender gap on Wikipedia. This page provides an overview of how to get involved in the initiative. We need your help to spread the word!

Timing edit

  • Campaign launch on Monday, 8 March 2021
  • Continuing through 31 March 2021

  • Campaign relaunch on Monday, 8 March 2022
  • Continuing year-long

Background edit

Women have been written out of history. This project of erasure has been systematic. Through Project Rewrite, we are calling attention to gender bias across the information landscape, highlighting efforts underway to close gaps, and inviting everyone to get involved.

Project Rewrite aims to address issues of gender inequity as it relates to the representation of women throughout history and in the modern world.

When we say “women,” we include everyone who identifies with this gender identity in any aspect -- cis and trans women, individuals who are nonbinary, genderfluid or genderqueer, and anyone else for whom “women” has meaning and resonance. We also welcome the participation and support of allies of all gender identities.

Wikipedia is powered by humans, so it is vulnerable to human biases. It is also a reflection of the structural and historical inequalities women experience around the world. For example, Wikipedia depends on the availability of existing published sources to verify the facts in its articles. But in many places around the world, women have been left out of historical narratives and traditional sources of knowledge – an issue that many institutions and publications today are trying to address. As our societies begin to uncover and acknowledge the critical contributions of women past and present, so too must Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

We also know that articles are more comprehensive and neutral when a diverse range of people can contribute to them. Historically, more men than women have edited Wikipedia, which has affected the kind of information that is covered on Wikipedia and how that information is presented. We believe that the more the world writes about and celebrates women and people in all their diversity, the more references about them exist, the more (potential) editors want to create their articles, the more equitable Wikipedia becomes. Wikipedia will become richer, more representative, and more useful to the world as its content and editor pool better reflect the diversity of the human experience.

This is where Project Rewrite comes in. Part of our Open the Knowledge initiative, Project Rewrite calls out the persistent gaps in content by and about women on Wikipedia and calls on everyone to help close them.

There are several efforts underway to join and support — from campaigns to add missing articles about women to Wikipedia, to training events for new volunteers, and more. Want to get involved? Use the Project Rewrite Checklist to get started.

Goals edit

  • Deliver an easy, accessible, and actionable way for our audiences to get involved in Project Rewrite and the Wikimedia movement’s gender equity efforts
  • Educate audiences about how Wikipedia works, and explain that to close gender gaps within the Wikimedia movement and projects means addressing gaps in the larger information landscape.
 

Tactics edit

On 8 March 2022, the Project Rewrite campaign will launch on all Wikimedia web and social channels with a post on Medium highlighting the campaign and ways everyone can get involved.

We will subsequently promote content relating to gender equity in the information landscape and encourage audiences to participate in community events during the month of March on our social media channel. We will share these events on our Diff calendar and amplify the Meta-Wiki page as well.

The Foundation Communications team will update the “Project Rewrite” page to feature current content focused on gender equity, including links to data/research on gender equity, ways to get involved, and affiliate events. Other tactics include:

The Project Rewrite Checklist – During our meetings with folks across the movement, we asked, “If you had one actionable item you could give a first-time editor to help take part in the gender equity movement, what would it be?”. Based on what we heard, we gathered 10 items to share with our audience. Every action for gender equity counts, and the items range from something as easy as listening to a podcast, to something more hands-on like editing an article for the first time. Of course, this list is not exclusive or comprehensive, and welcome any feedback or additions we can make to the list as well.

How to get involved edit

Share #ProjectRewrite on social media edit

 

Follow and tag us edit

Please follow the Wikimedia Foundation on social media and tag us in your posts:

Remember to use #ProjectRewrite in all social media posts. You may also want to use #WomensHistoryMonth during March and #IWD2022 for International Women’s Day on 8 March.

Ideas for things to share on social media edit

  • Our blog post, which describes why we launched Project Rewrite and ways to get involved
  • Check out events being organized by movement groups and affiliates
  • Encourage people to edit articles about women and their work. Here is the page where you can find campaigns, community groups, and initiatives to join and get involved in.
  • Campaign resources for editing Wikipedia, hosting an event, and more
  • The Project Rewrite Checklist

Sample tweets edit

Please note that these are draft social media posts for Twitter. Feel free to edit them as you wish to share with your networks, and to adapt them for different social media channels.

Tell us about your Women’s History Month events edit

If you have a Women’s History Month or International Women’s Day event you are participating in or hosting that is not already added on the International Women’s Day calendar, please add it below:

  • Event name with hyperlink, short description, dates
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