Wikipedia is still missing so many images of notable women. Let’s add their faces to Wikimedia projects so that those who have been invisible can be fully seen this March!
Grace Banu, image by P.ABHIJITH, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Issue
We estimate that less than 20% of Wikipedia articles of important women have pictures. When women’s faces are missing from Wikipedia, that invisibility spreads. Half a billion people read Wikipedia every month, and it is the 5th most visited website in the world, so gaps in Wikipedia have a big impact on the broader internet. Women’s knowledge and contributions to the world are invisible in so many ways. Together, we can address this and make women more visible online!
Image by Wotancito, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
#VisibleWikiWomen Challenge
Wikimedians and allies around the world, in partnership with Whose Knowledge?, are hosting a challenge to add more images of women to Wikipedia throughout March 2018 to celebrate International Women’s Month.
We aim to make notable women more visible both on Wikipedia and the broader internet. We invite women’s and feminist organizations, Wikipedia editors, user groups, chapters, and other partners around the world to collaborate with us in this effort, by uploading images to Commons under the VisibleWikiWomen category, and using the hashtag #VisibleWikiWomen to raise awareness.
Resources
Please gather and share quality images under free licenses via Wikimedia Commons, so that these can be used to illustrate biographies of women on Wikipedia. These can be photographs or drawings of women, or images of their work, with proper consent.
Partners are encouraged to host or attend local events in their communities where photos can be taken or uploaded, release photos you might already have under free licence, create drawn illustrations, and help promote and publicize this project. We invite local groups to lead this effort in ways that make most sense for your countries and interests: we’d love to learn from you! Please contact us to share your ideas.
Here is your #VisibleWikiWomen resource kit – in these documents, you will find all the instructions and advice you need to make notable women more visible on Wikipedia and in the world!
- How to give and get consent for images on Wikipedia
- How to upload images to Wikimedia Commons
- Dos and Dont’s for adding images to Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia
- How to create drawings for Wikipedia
- How to ask for image donations
- How to find free images
- …and if you need inspiration, here are some lists of missing women on Wikipedia.
Blog Posts
- Until Next Year: Farewell to our #VWW Campaign
- #VisibleWikiWomen: postcards of power and diversity
- The Journey Through Our #VisibleWikiWomen Challenge: 10 Times Our Imagined Impact!
- Sharing Fuegia’s Memory
- The Life and Death of Marielle Franco on Wikipedia
- 3 Ways Cultural Institutions Can Make Women Visible Online
- Why I Look for Missing Faces on Wikipedia
Aïssatou Cissé, image by Wotancito, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Jurema Werneck, image by Wotancito CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Farida Shaheed, image by Wotancito CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
