2025-08-06 –, KISUMU (Ballroom 3) 🌐 💬
Language: English
Recent data from Humaniki and the Wikimedia Foundation's 2024 reports reveal a persistent gender gap in Wikimedia representation, marked by low participation and retention, limited leadership opportunities, and an imbalance in content about African women on Wikimedia projects .
The Africa Wiki Women Technical Research project was conducted to co-create solutions addressing this underrepresentation in content creation, program participation, and leadership within our movement. Our research, which involved community consultations, focus groups, and interviews with women-led Wikimedia groups and experienced editors across Africa, also mapped Women’s Wikimedia Initiatives on the continent.
This session will present key findings, methodologies, and strategic recommendations for promoting gender equity in Africa’s Wikimedia ecosystem, offering actionable insights to empower African women as leaders and active contributors.
This lecture will present the findings of the Africa Wiki Women Technical Research, which explores the barriers preventing African women from fully engaging in the Wikimedia movement as editors and leaders. The research involved targeted activities designed to gain deeper insights into these challenges and develop practical solutions.
Community awareness sessions were conducted to engage African women and understand their experiences within Wikimedia. Additionally, focus group discussions were held across East, West, North, and Southern Africa to identify key challenges and gather recommendations. Interviews with experienced female editors, female campaign organizers, and women-led Wikimedia groups provided further analysis of leadership barriers and organizational needs.
The research also mapped existing women-led Wikimedia initiatives to assess ongoing efforts and identify gaps. As part of the initiative, steps were taken toward formalizing Africa Wiki Women, including developing a legal registration and governance framework.
This session aims to highlight the data-driven insights from this recent research on the barriers African women face in contributing to and leading campaigns within Wikimedia and share community-driven recommendations for increasing women's active participation and representation in contents on the wikimedia projects and within the movement. Additionally, it will showcase existing women-led Wikimedia efforts and explore their impact on closing gender gaps.
The discussion will also cover organizational strengthening strategies to support the long-term sustainability of Africa Wiki Women. Participants will be encouraged to be part of the solution based programs that Africa Wiki Women has initiated and be encouraged to collaborate and partner with them in closing the gender gap in African Wikimedia spaces.
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
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Everyone can participate in this session
- How do you plan to deliver this session? You will be asked to confirm this closer to the date in case of changes to the format.
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Onsite in Nairobi
- Should your session be selected for the program, do you agree to release your session and supporting materials on-wiki and on the eventyay platform under CC BY-SA 4.0?
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I agree
- What other themes or topics does your session fit into? Please choose from the list of tags below.
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Capacity building, Collaboration
- How does your session relate to the event theme: Wikimania@20: Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
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Our session aligns with the themes of Inclusivity, Impact, and Sustainability as it provides insights into how communities can take action to address the underrepresentation of African women in Wikimedia content, editorship, and leadership. We cannot effectively address what we do not fully understand. With only 23.51% of Wikipedia biographies featuring African women, our research identified key barriers unique to the African continent and provides data-driven insights from African women within the Wikimedia community. Insights were drawn from Africa regional conversations, surveys, focus groups, and stakeholder interviews. We will present practical recommendations to enhance African women's participation in Wikimedia projects and programs while strengthening women-led initiatives to better support their needs. Additionally, we will explore sustainable leadership development strategies to ensure long-term engagement and continuity. This session aims to enhance a more inclusive, impactful, and sustainable Wikimedia movement through advancing gender equity and representation across the continent
Ruby D-Brown- Ruby is a dedicated gender and sustainability advocate with extensive experience in research, project and program management, and campaign organizing. She is the co-founder of Africa Wiki Women, Wiki Women’s User Group coordinator, and Comscom committee member. Ruby joined the Wikimedia movement in 2019, and over the years, she has coordinated a number of campaigns and projects focused on increasing women's involvement in my community. These efforts have paid off, as she has successfully impacted over 1,000 women through a variety of programs and campaigns, capacity-building workshops, and inclusion in the Wikimedia Movement.
Nwonwu Uchechukwu Pascaline is a dedicated Wikimedia contributor and advocate for cultural preservation and gender equality. She serves as the Wiki Loves Folklore Central African Ambassador 2024/2025. Currently also serving as the communications Fellow and Ambassador for Africa Wiki Women. She also served as Anglophone Africa Regional Coordinator for the Africa Wiki Women Technical Research Team. Project lead for IG Wiki Commons Hub and the Additionally, she has contributed as an international juror for various Wiki Loves campaigns, including Wiki Loves Folklore 2024 and Wiki Loves Monument 2024. Her work is focused on empowering communities, closing the gender gap, and promoting cultural heritage through Wikimedia projects.