Women in Religion User Group

Mission Statement

User Group Women in Religion, originally a project of the Women's Caucus of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature, and an offshoot of the Wikiproject seeks to create, update, and improve Wikipedia articles pertaining to the lives of cis and transgender women scholars, activists, and practitioners in the world's religious, spiritual, and wisdom traditions. We seek to write women back into history, especially those who have made an impact in their faith and religious communities.

Vision

We are a diverse group of people of faith, agnostics, and atheists, from a variety of traditions and belief systems who are committed to closing information gaps that have affected cis and transgender women scholars, activists, and practitioners in the world's religious, spiritual, and wisdom traditions, especially in Wikipedia.

Values

We believe in the power of faith and religious traditions to heal, empower, and unite.

We are a community of feminists and activists who believe that faith and religious traditions should elevate women and challenge oppressive systems.

We believe in creating caring, equitable, transformative, and safe spaces open and welcome to all faiths and traditions.

We are committed to drawing attention to the great women who have led us all, throughout history, in providing examples and models of what it means to be people of faith and insisting upon having agency and control of their own bodies despite great challenges and obstacles, and often at the expense of their own lives.

Goals and objectives

We seek to leverage the Wikipedia guidelines such as those about notability and reliable sources that seem to discourage the creation of high-quality articles about women religious.^[1]

We seek to mitigate and address the gender gap and the systemic bias that has led to the under-representation of women from the world's religious, spiritual, and wisdom traditions on Wikimedia platforms.

We will create lists of red links, like those created by our member librarians, of women religious who are underrepresented on Wikipedia.

We will create Wikipedia biographies for cisgender and transgender women who have significantly contributed to the world's religious, spiritual, and wisdom traditions, but are unrecognized for their accomplishments.

We will expand information about notable women in religion on other Wikimedia platforms. For example, we will add data about women in religion to Wikidata, both expanding information for women who have a Wikidata entry, and adding women who do not yet have an entry and contribute images related to under-represented women in religion to Wikimedia Commons.

Activities

We organize edit-a-thons, both virtual and in person, including a monthly online gathering, to offer opportunities for people to learn about the Women in Religion Wikiproject and to develop editing skills.

We will meet regularly to strategize about writing women religious back into history, both on Wikipedia and in other secondary and tertiary sources. We will conduct regular meetups and edit-athons to help each other develop and grow as activists, writers, and Wikipedia editors.

We will add new content to Wikipedia and promote it through the DYK feature and social media.

We will partner with publishers to create a Women in Religion series of monographs, open source online volumes that feature biographies of women in religion. As of January 2024, three volumes have been published, and one more is in development.

We will work with other Wikimedia projects and Wikiprojects to collaborate and make the wider world a better, equitable, and more accepting place.

As of January 2024, our user group has been instrumental in the creation of two offshoot projects: WikiProject Australian Women in Religion and WikiProject Kenyan Circle of Concerned African Women.

Upcoming events

Monthly virtual edit-a-thons

When: Held on the 2nd Monday of each month at 4 pm CST
Where: Zoom meeting
Contact: For more information, contact User:Dzingle1

Monthly virtual editing session for Africa, Europe and India

Suspended for now Contact: For more information, contact RosPost (talk)

Monthly planning sessions

When: Held on the 4th Thursday of each month. Time varies to accommodate global time zones.
Where: Zoom meeting
Contact: For more information, contact User:Figureskatingfan

Contact information

Colleen Hartung, @dzingle1

Interested in participating

Please add your name below if you're interested in participating in User Group Women in Religion. You can also visit the Wikiproject page for more information about how to join us in our goals and objectives. You must have a registered Wikimedia account for more than six months and have 300 or more contributions to a Wikimedia project to be a user group member. If you don't yet meet the requirements but are committed to participating, you can still sign up; just state in parenthesis that you're working on your eligibility (i.e., I'm still building up my edit count).

Clifford Anderson (talk) 21:17, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Figureskatingfan (talk) 16:55, 14 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
DrMushEa (talk) 23:57, 14 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
PMCH2 (talk) 00:47, 15 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Kerrieburn (talk) 08:02, 15 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
NuthatchYogi (talk)
Dzingle1 (talk)
User:Winifredwhelan I'm still building up my edit count.
Jaireeodell (talk) 21:29, 1 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
User: Lazarsfeld1 I'm still building up my edit count (I think)
Rosiestep (talk) 23:38, 8 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Prithee P (talk) 16:41, 7 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
B.Korlah (talk) 11:59, 11 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
RosPost (talk) 18:47, 3 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Promicis (talk) 18:18, 5 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Itzedubaba (talk) 10:39, 4 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Celetex (talk) 16:48, 22 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Yakubu Fadilatu (talk) 10:15, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
AgnesAbah (talk) 10:15, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Ruky Wunpini (talk) 10:20, 25 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Awinebotima (talk) 12:16, 29 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Galdiz (talk) 01:22, 26 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Aishik Rehman (talk) 18:55, 11 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Fortunaa (talk), 19:00 11 Dec 2023 (UTC)
Ngangaesther (talk)11:38, 31 Jan 2024 (UTC)
Atibrarian (talk) 17:53, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yearly reports

2023

Monthly planning sessions

As of January 2024, we will post the minutes from our monthly sessions. If you'd like to see minutes from previous meetings, please contact User:Figureskatingfan. Note: All participants are designed by their initials, in order to protect their anonymity and privacy.

2025

March 27, 2025

2024

References

↑ Hartung, Colleen D. (2020). "Leveraging Notability: Defining, Critiquing and Strategically Engaging a Wikipedia Guideline," p. v in Colleen D. Hartung (ed.), Claiming Notability for Women Activists in Religion Women in Religion. Atla Open Press.

Affiliations Committee Resolutions

Affiliations Committee/Resolutions/Recognition of Women in Religion User Group

[1] Hartung, Colleen D. (2020). "Leveraging Notability: Defining, Critiquing and Strategically Engaging a Wikipedia Guideline," p. v in Colleen D. Hartung (ed.), Claiming Notability for Women Activists in Religion Women in Religion. Atla Open Press.

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