Depending on which estimate you prefer, 10-23 percent of the people who collectively edit Wikipedia identify as women, according to the non-profit that runs the digital resource, the Wikimedia Foundation.
When you consider how many of us use Wikipedia as a reference, even Wikipedia agrees that’s a problem. When the vast majority of people who contribute to Wikipedia are male, you’re going to see bizarre gaps in what’s covered and how.
In recent years, a group called Art + Feminism has been trying to make an art-sized dent in that problem by hosting “edit-a-thons.”
This month alone, there are four Art + Feminism edit-a-thons in the Bay Area, including one at Stanford’s Bowes Art and Architecture Library on International Women’s Day.
Organizer Vanessa Kam says it makes a lot of sense to host an edit-a-thon in a library. “Lots of reference materials: encyclopedias, dictionaries, wonderful exhibit catalogues, as well as books on feminist art and art history around the world, in multiple languages,” Kam says.
![Solid citations are key to making sure your contributions “stick” on Wikipedia, where collective re-editing is par for the course.](https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/03/RS29740_IMG_2816-2-qut-800x800.jpg)
Opinions vary as to why women haven’t entered the editorial fray in larger numbers, but one theory holds many women find bro-culture of any kind off-putting. Hence the appeal of a group effort in real time and space.