Wikipedia editathon devoted to women scientists
© 2021 EPFL
On 11 February, to mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, EPFL held its very first edit-a-thon devoted to women scientists who have a page on Wikipedia.
EPFL, in association with Wikimedia CH, hosted its first-ever Wikipedia editathon devoted to women’s achievements in science and engineering. With the help of Wikimedia’s expert editors, some 20 men and women took up the challenge and, within just a few hours, published more than a dozen articles on women researchers and professors at EPFL.
As Jess Wade – a physicist at Imperial College London and the author of more than 1,200 Wikipedia articles – pointed out in her keynote address, this editathon provides an excellent opportunity to challenge the under-representation of women in science and engineering, and to encourage girls to pursue careers in these fields. “When you consider the impact that Wikipedia – the world's 5th most-visited website – has on science and the technology we develop, you realize just how dangerous that under-representation can be,” Wade says.
“In 2016, a mere 16% of English-language biographies on Wikipedia were about women,” says Gisou van der Goot, EPFL Vice President for Responsible Transformation. This fact gave rise to other initiatives such as WikiProject Women and Women in Red, on which the EPFL edit-a-thon was modelled.
EPFL intends to hold more editathons and workshops as part of its Wikipedia Project. In the meantime, you can find more information at: