Wikipedia fails to bridge gender gap (original) (raw)

Search "abortion" on Wikipedia's English version and you will find a page called "Abortion-rights movements". It has been edited 40 times since it was created - mainly by men.

"C'mon, guys are arguing about what's in that pregnancy article - are you kidding me?" said Sarah Stierch, 32, a former Wikimedia Foundation member who was given the task of examining the gender gap within the Wikipedia world.

There is a similar story for the entry on rape. Indeed, men dominate Wikipedia when it comes to most topics.

The lack of women's contributions has been a hot topic at this year's Wikimania conference in Hong Kong, which ends today.

Stierch was recruited in 2011 by Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, which employs 150 people to run 13 non-profit information-sharing projects, including Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wiktionary.

Gardner, the organisation's highest-ranking woman, yesterday confirmed she will leave the foundation in December because she believes there is a bigger job at hand, protecting the freedom of the internet.