gender bias on Wikipedia

The first study of world-wide presence in 2008 found that 13% of all editors were female, which, after a follow-up study in 2011, was reduced to 9% globally. In the United States, especially within the English Wikipedia, a 2015 study found that 15% of contributors were women.

In 2009, a Wikimedia Foundation survey revealed that 6% of editors who made more than 500 edits were female, with the average male editor having twice as many edits.{{cite book|last1=Lam|first1=Shyong (Tony) K.|last2=Uduwage|first2=Anuradha|last3=Dong|first3=Zhenhua|last4=Sen|first4=Shilad|last5=Musicant|first5=David R.|last6=Terveen|first6=Loren|last7=Riedl|first7=John|title=WP:Clubhouse? An Exploration of Wikipedia's Gender Imbalance|date=3 October 2011 |pages=1–10 |url = https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2038558.2038560 |doi = 10.1145/2038558.2038560 |isbn=978-1-4503-0909-7 |s2cid=15730439 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418072510/http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~lam/papers/wp-gender-wikisym2011.pdf|archive-date=18 April 2015}}

In 2010, United Nations University and UNU-MERIT jointly presented an overview of the results of a global Wikipedia survey.{{cite web |title = Wikipedia Survey: Overview Results |url = http://www.wikipediasurvey.org/docs/Wikipedia_Overview_15March2010-FINAL.pdf |last1 = Glott |first1 = Ruediger |last2 = Schmidt |first2 = Philipp |last3 = Ghosh |first3 = Rishab |date = March 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100414165445/http://wikipediasurvey.org/docs/Wikipedia_Overview_15March2010-FINAL.pdf |archive-date = 14 April 2010 |url-status = usurped |access-date = 11 August 2014 }} A New York Times article cited this Wikimedia Foundation collaboration, which indicated that fewer than 13% of contributors to Wikipedia are women. Sue Gardner, then executive director of the foundation, said that increasing diversity was about making the encyclopedia "as good as it could be". Factors the article cited as possibly discouraging women from editing included the "obsessive fact-loving realm", associations with the "hard-driving hacker crowd", and the necessity to be "open to very difficult, high-conflict people, even misogynists".{{cite news |last = Cohen |first = Noam |date = 30 January 2011 |title = Define Gender Gap? Look Up Wikipedia's Contributor List |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/business/media/31link.html |newspaper = The New York Times |access-date = 31 January 2011 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110203043906/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/business/media/31link.html |archive-date = 3 February 2011 }} In 2013, the results of the survey were adjusted for non-response bias by Hill and Shaw using a propensity score estimation technique to suggest upward corrections to the data from the survey and to recommend updates to the statistics being surveyed, giving 22.7% (17.8% unadjusted) for adult US female editors and 16.1% (12.7% unadjusted) for all US female editors.

In February 2011, The New York Times followed up with a series of opinions on the subject under the banner, "Where Are the Women in Wikipedia?".{{cite news |author = |date = 2 February 2011 |title = Where Are the Women in Wikipedia? |url = https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia |newspaper = The New York Times |access-date = 9 August 2014 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140715112226/http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia |archive-date = 15 July 2014 }} Susan C. Herring, a professor of information science and linguistics, said that she was not surprised by the Wikipedia contributors' gender gap. She said that the often contentious nature of Wikipedia article "talk" pages, where article content is discussed, is unappealing to many women, "if not outright intimidating".{{cite news |last = Herring |first = Susan C. |date = 4 February 2011 |title = Communication Styles Make a Difference |url = https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia/communication-styles-make-a-difference |type = opinion |newspaper = The New York Times |access-date = 11 August 2014 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140724050237/http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia/communication-styles-make-a-difference |archive-date = 24 July 2014 }} Joseph M. Reagle reacted similarly, saying that the combination of a "culture of hacker elitism", combined with the disproportionate effect of high-conflict members (a minority) on the community atmosphere, can make it unappealing. He said, "the ideology and rhetoric of freedom and openness can then be used (a) to suppress concerns about inappropriate or offensive speech as 'censorship' and (b) to rationalize low female participation as simply a matter of their personal preference and choice".{{cite news |last = Reagle |first = Joseph M. |date = 4 February 2011 |title = 'Open' Doesn't Include Everyone |url = https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia/open-doesnt-include-everyone |type = opinion |newspaper = The New York Times |access-date = 11 August 2014 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140715113229/http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia/open-doesnt-include-everyone |archive-date = 15 July 2014 }} Justine Cassell said that although women are as knowledgeable as men, and as able to defend their point of view, "it is still the case in American society that debate, contention, and vigorous defense of one's position is often still seen as a male stance, and women's use of these speech styles can call forth negative evaluations".{{cite news |last = Cassell |first = Justine |date = 4 February 2011 |title = Editing Wars Behind the Scenes |url = https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia/a-culture-of-editing-wars |type = opinion |newspaper = The New York Times |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170227113525/http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia/a-culture-of-editing-wars |archive-date = 27 February 2017 }}

In April 2011, the Wikimedia Foundation conducted its first semi-annual Wikipedia survey. It suggested that 9% of Wikipedia editors are women. It also reported, "Contrary to the perception of some, our data shows that very few women editors feel like they have been harassed, and very few feel Wikipedia is a sexualized environment".{{cite web |url = https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Editor_Survey_Report_-_April_2011.pdf |title = Wikipedia Editors Study: Results From The Editor Survey, April 2011 |date = April 2011 |website = Wikipedia |access-date = 18 May 2014 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141226041321/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Editor_Survey_Report_-_April_2011.pdf |archive-date = 26 December 2014 }} However, an October 2011 paper at the International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration found evidence that suggested that Wikipedia may have "a culture that may be resistant to female participation".{{cite conference |last1 = Lam |first1 = Shyong K. |last2 = Uduwage |first2 = Anuradha |last3 = Dong |first3 = Zhenhua |last4 = Sen |first4 = Shilad |last5 = Musicant |first5 = David R. |last6 = Terveen |first6 = Loren |last7 = Reidl |first7 = John |date = October 2011 |title = WP:Clubhouse? An Exploration of Wikipedia's Gender Imbalance |url = https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2038558.2038560 |doi = 10.1145/2038558.2038560 |conference = WikiSym'11 |conference-url = http://www.wikisym.org/ws2011/ |publisher = ACM |author-link6 = Loren Terveen |author-link7 = John T. Riedl |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131029232437/http://files.grouplens.org/papers/wp-gender-wikisym2011.pdf |archive-date = 29 October 2013 }}

A study published in 2014 found that there is also an "Internet skills gap" with regard to Wikipedia editors. The authors found that the most likely Wikipedia contributors are high-skilled men and that there is no gender gap among low-skilled editors, and concluded that the "skills gap" exacerbates the gender gap among editors.{{cite journal |last1 = Hargittai |first1 = Eszter |last2 = Shaw |first2 = Aaron |title = Mind the skills gap: the role of Internet know-how and gender in differentiated contributions to Wikipedia |journal = Information, Communication & Society |date = 4 November 2014 |pages = 424–442 |doi = 10.1080/1369118X.2014.957711 |volume = 18 |issue = 4 |s2cid = 143468397 }} During 2010–14, women made up 61% of participants of the college courses arranged by the Wiki Education Foundation program that included editing Wikipedia as part of the curriculum. Their contributions were found to shift the Wikipedia content from pop-culture and STEM towards social sciences and humanities.{{cite web |url = http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/23/6727564/bruce-maiman-wikipedia-grows-up.html |title = Wikipedia grows up on college campuses |author = Bruce Maiman |date = 23 September 2014 |website = The Sacramento Bee |access-date = 23 September 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140923224639/http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/23/6727564/bruce-maiman-wikipedia-grows-up.html |archive-date = 23 September 2014 }}

In 2015, Katherine Maher, Gardner's successor as the director of the Wikimedia Foundation, argued that Wikipedia's gender bias "reflects society as a whole". For example, she noted that Wikipedia is dependent on secondary sources which have similar biases. She agreed that Wikipedia's editing process introduces biases of its own, especially as topics that are popular among its predominantly male editors draw more edits.{{cite magazine |last1=Lapowsky |first1=Issie |title=Meet the Editors Fighting Racism and Sexism on Wikipedia |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/03/wikipedia-sexism/ |url-status=live |magazine=Wired |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151114033044/http://www.wired.com/2015/03/wikipedia-sexism |archive-date=14 November 2015 |access-date=13 April 2015}}{{Cite web|last=Maher|first=Katherine|date=18 October 2018|title=Wikipedia is a mirror of the world's gender biases|url=https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2018/10/18/wikipedia-mirror-world-gender-biases/|website=Wikimedia Foundation}}

A 2017 study found that women participating in an experiment by editing a Wikipedia-like site tended to view other editors as male, and to view their responses as more critical than if the other editor was gender-neutral. The study concluded that:{{cite journal |last1=Shane-Simpson |first1=Christina |last2=Gillespie-Lynch |first2=Kristen |title=Examining potential mechanisms underlying the Wikipedia gender gap through a collaborative editing task |journal=Computers in Human Behavior |date=January 2017 |volume=66 |pages=312–328 |doi=10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.043 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01612306/document |access-date=4 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104170109/https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01612306/document |archive-date=4 November 2018 |url-status=live }} {{blockquote |text = ...visible female editors on Wikipedia and broader encouragement of the use of constructive feedback may begin to alleviate the Wikipedia gender gap. Furthermore, the relatively high proportion of anonymous editors may exacerbate the Wikipedia gender gap, as anonymity may often be perceived as male and more critical.}}

A 2017 study by Heather Ford and Judy Wajcman observes that research on the gender bias continues to frame the problem as a deficit in women. In contrast, their central argument states that infrastructure studies in feminist technoscience allows the gender analysis to be taken to a further level. It looks at three issues within the infrastructure: content policies, software, and the legalistic framework of operation. It suggests that progress can be made through altering that culture of knowledge production through encouraging alternate knowledge, reducing the technical barriers to editing, and addressing the complexity of Wikipedia policies.{{cite journal |last1 = Ford |first1 = Heather |last2 = Wajcman |first2 = Judy |title = 'Anyone can edit', not everyone does: Wikipedia and the gender gap |journal = Social Studies of Science |date = 2017 |url = http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68675/ |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161228081909/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68675/ |archive-date = 28 December 2016 | doi = 10.1177/0306312717692172 |pmid = 28791929 |volume=47 |issue = 4 |pages=511–527|s2cid = 32835293 }}

In their February 2018 article, "Pipeline of Online Participation Inequalities: The Case of Wikipedia Editing", Shaw and Hargittai concluded from their studies that solving the problems of participation inequality including gender bias requires a broader focus on subjects other than inequality.{{Cite journal|last1=Shaw|first1=Aaron|last2=Hargittai|first2=Eszter|date=2018-02-01|title=The Pipeline of Online Participation Inequalities: The Case of Wikipedia Editing|journal=Journal of Communication|volume=68|issue=1|pages=143–168|doi=10.1093/joc/jqx003|issn=0021-9916}} They recommended a focus on encouraging participants of all educational backgrounds, skill levels, and age groups will help Wikipedia to improve. They recommended further that informing more women that Wikipedia is free to edit and open to everyone is critical in eliminating gender bias.

In March 2018, mathematician Marie A. Vitulli wrote in Notices of the American Mathematical Society, "The percentage of women editors on Wikipedia remains dismally low".{{cite journal|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201803/rnoti-p330.pdf|title=Writing Women in Mathematics into Wikipedia |last=Vitulli|first=Marie A.|date=March 2018|journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society|access-date=11 October 2018|doi=10.1090/noti1650|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303142204/http://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201803/rnoti-p330.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2018|url-status=live|volume=65|issue=3 |pages=330–334|arxiv=1710.11103 |s2cid=119259241 }}

In 2014, Noopur Raval, a PhD candidate at UC Irvine, wrote in "The Encyclopedia Must Fail!– Notes on Queering Wikipedia" that "making a platform open access does not automatically translate to equality of participation, ease of access, or cultural acceptance of the medium".{{Cite journal|last=Noopur|first=Raval|title=The Encyclopedia Must Fail! – Notes on Queering Wikipedia|url=https://adanewmedia.org/2014/07/issue5-raval/|journal=Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology|issue=5|doi=10.7264/N37W69GC|issn=2325-0496|year=2014|doi-broken-date=3 December 2024 |access-date=14 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014030644/https://adanewmedia.org/2014/07/issue5-raval/|archive-date=14 October 2019|url-status=dead}} In 2017, researchers Matthew A. Vetter and Keon Mandell Pettiway explain that the white, cis-gendered male dominance among Wikipedia editors has led to the "erasure of non-normative gender and sexual identities", in addition to cis-gendered females. The "androcentric and heteronormative discourses" of Wikipedia editing insufficiently allow "marginalized gender and sexual identities to take part in language use and the construction of knowledge".{{Cite journal|url=https://tcjournal.org/vol7/hacking-hetero-normative-logics|title=Hacking Hetero/Normative Logics: Queer Feminist Media Praxis in Wikipedia |journal= Technoculture|last1=Matthew|first1=Vetter|last2=Pettiway|first2=Keon|date=20 November 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014030646/https://tcjournal.org/vol7/hacking-hetero-normative-logics|archive-date=14 October 2019|access-date=2019-10-14|volume=7}}

File:Sue Gardner Feb 2013 portrait crop 2.jpg provided nine reasons, offered by female Wikipedia editors, "Why Women Don't Edit Wikipedia".]]

Some gender research literature suggests that the difference in contribution rates could be due to three factors: (1) the high levels of conflict in discussions, (2) dislike of critical environments, and (3) lack of confidence in editing other contributors' work.{{Cite book|last1=Collier|first1=Benjamin|title=Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work - CSCW '12|last2=Bear|first2=Julia|year=2012|isbn=978-1-4503-1086-4|page=383|chapter=Conflict, criticism, or confidence|doi=10.1145/2145204.2145265|s2cid=17473183}}{{cite web|author1=Andrew Lih|date=20 June 2015|title=Can Wikipedia Survive?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/can-wikipedia-survive.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621032208/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/can-wikipedia-survive.html|archive-date=21 June 2015|access-date=21 June 2015|website=www.nytimes.com|location=Washington|quote=...the considerable and often-noted gender gap among Wikipedia editors; in 2011, less than 15 percent were women.}}Statistics based on Wikimedia Foundation Wikipedia editor surveys [https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AEditor_Survey_Report_-_April_2011.pdf&page=1 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702163818/https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AEditor_Survey_Report_-_April_2011.pdf&page=1|date=2 July 2017}} (Nov. 2010-April 2011) and [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_Editors_Survey_November_2011 November 2011] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605124632/https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_Editors_Survey_November_2011|date=5 June 2016}} (April – October 2011) A published scoping review on the gender gap in Wikipedia found three main categories for these factors in academic literature: ‘women problem’ (blaming female characteristics), ‘mirror effect’ (blaming society but excusing Wikipedia), and ‘systemic problem’ (blaming the original male-dominated editor community).{{cite journal |last1=Ferran-Ferrer |first1=Núria |last2=Boté-Vericad |first2=Juan-José |last3=Minguillón |first3=Julià |title=Wikipedia gender gap: a scoping review |journal=El Profesional de la información |date=16 December 2023 |volume=32 |issue=6 |doi=10.3145/epi.2023.nov.17 |url=https://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com/index.php/EPI/article/view/87476/63565|hdl=2445/205044 |hdl-access=free }}

The New York Times pointed out that Wikipedia's female participation rate may be in line with other "public thought-leadership forums". A 2010 study revealed a Wikipedia female participation rate of 13 percent, observed to be close to the 15 percent overall female participation rate of other "public thought-leadership forums".{{cite web |url = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2013-07-31/Recent_research |title = Recent research — Napoleon, Michael Jackson and Srebrenica across cultures, 90% of Wikipedia better than Britannica, WikiSym preview |last1 = Yasseri |first1 = Taha |last2 = Liao |first2 = Han-Teng |last3 = Konieczny |first3 = Piotr |last4 = Morgan |first4 = Jonathan |last5 = Bayer |first5 = Tilman |date = 31 July 2013 |work = The Signpost |publisher = Wikipedia |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150617074727/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2013-07-31/Recent_research |archive-date = 17 June 2015 }} Wikipedia research fellow Sarah Stierch acknowledged that it is "fairly common" for Wikipedia contributors to remain gender-anonymous.{{cite web |url = http://www.dailydot.com/society/wikipedia-gender-gap-sarah-stierch/ |first=Tim|last= Sampson|title = The women of Wikipedia: Closing the site's giant gender gap |website=The Daily Dot|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150703203120/http://www.dailydot.com/society/wikipedia-gender-gap-sarah-stierch/ |archive-date = 3 July 2015 |date = 24 January 2013 |access-date = 29 November 2014 }} A perceived unwelcoming culture and tolerance of violent and abusive language are also reasons put forth for the gender gap.{{cite journal |url = http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2013/0801/In-UK-rising-chorus-of-outrage-over-online-misogyny |title = In UK, rising chorus of outrage over online misogyny |journal = The Christian Science Monitor |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150704200524/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2013/0801/In-UK-rising-chorus-of-outrage-over-online-misogyny |archive-date = 4 July 2015 |date = August 2013 }} According to a 2013 study,{{cite web |url = http://dub.washington.edu/djangosite/media/papers/morgan_cscw2013_final.pdf |title = Tea & Sympathy: Crafting Positive New User Experiences on Wikipedia |author = Jonathan T. Morgan |author2 = Siko Bouterse |author3 = Sarah Stierch |author4 = Heather Walls |publisher = Wikimedia Foundation |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141105195335/http://dub.washington.edu/djangosite/media/papers/morgan_cscw2013_final.pdf |archive-date = 5 November 2014 |access-date = 24 August 2014 }} another cause of the gender gap in Wikipedia is the failure to attract and retain female editors, resulting in a negative impact on Wikipedia's coverage. As well, Wikipedia "...editors that publicly identify as women face harassment" from other Wikipedia editors.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/how-does-political-pedia-stay-apolitical/450948/ |title=How Does Political Wikipedia Stay Apolitical?: The seventh-most visited site is one of the first online listings for any elected official—but how does a site that stakes its reputation on neutrality walk that line |last=Montellaro |first=Zach |date=18 November 2015 |website=theatlantic.com |publisher=The Atlantic |access-date =20 August 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821004146/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/how-does-political-wikipedia-stay-apolitical/450948/ |archive-date=21 August 2017}}

Former Wikimedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner cited nine reasons why women do not edit Wikipedia, culled from comments by female Wikipedia editors:{{cite web |last = Gardner |first = Sue |date = 19 February 2011 |title = Nine Reasons Why Women Don't Edit Wikipedia, In Their Own Words |url = http://suegardner.org/2011/02/19/nine-reasons-why-women-dont-edit-wikipedia-in-their-own-words/ |type = blog |website = suegardner.org |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150718103642/http://suegardner.org/2011/02/19/nine-reasons-why-women-dont-edit-wikipedia-in-their-own-words/ |archive-date = 18 July 2015 |url-status = live }}

1. A lack of user-friendliness in the editing interface.
2. Not having enough free time.
3. A lack of self-confidence.
4. Aversion to conflict and an unwillingness to participate in lengthy edit wars.
5. Belief that their contributions are too likely to be reverted or deleted.
6. Some find its overall atmosphere misogynistic.
7. Wikipedia culture is sexual in ways they find off-putting.
8. Being addressed as male is off-putting to women whose primary language has grammatical gender.
9. Fewer opportunities for social relationships and a welcoming tone compared to other sites.

Though the proportion of female readership to male readership on Wikipedia is roughly equal (47%), women are less likely to convert themselves to editors (16%). Several studies suggest that there may be a formed culture in Wikipedia that discourages women from participating.{{cite conference|last1=Lam|first1=Shyong K.|last2=Uduwage|first2=Anuradha|last3=Dong|first3=Zhenhua|last4=Sen|first4=Shilad|last5=Musicant|first5=David R.|last6=Terveen|first6=Loren|author-link6=Loren Terveen|last7=Reidl|first7=John|author-link7=John T. Riedl|date=October 2011|title=WP:Clubhouse? An Exploration of Wikipedia's Gender Imbalance|url=http://files.grouplens.org/papers/wp-gender-wikisym2011.pdf|url-status=live|conference=WikiSym'11|publisher=ACM|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029232437/http://files.grouplens.org/papers/wp-gender-wikisym2011.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2013|conference-url=http://www.wikisym.org/ws2011/}}{{Cite book|last1=Collier|first1=Benjamin|last2=Bear|first2=Julia|title=Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work |chapter=Conflict, criticism, or confidence |date=2012|chapter-url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2145204.2145265|series=CSCW '12|location=Seattle, Washington, US|publisher=ACM Press|pages=383–392|doi=10.1145/2145204.2145265|isbn=978-1-4503-1086-4|s2cid=17473183|access-date=1 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325090443/https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2145204.2145265|archive-date=25 March 2019|url-status=live}} Lam et al. link this culture to a disparity in male-to-female centric topics represented and edited, the tendency for female users to be more active in the social and community aspects of Wikipedia, an increased likelihood that edits by new female editors are reverted, and/or that articles with high proportions of female editors are more contentious.

In 2019, Schlomit Aharoni Lir described "the vicious circle" model, displaying how the five layers of negative reputation, anonymity, fear, alienation and rejection – enhance each other, in a manner that deters women from contributing to the website. In order for more women to join Wikipedia, the researcher offers the implantation of a "Virtuous Circle" that consists of nonymity, connection to social media, inclusionist policy, soft deletion and red-flagging harassments.{{Cite journal |last=Lir |first=Scholmit Aharoni |date=2019 |title=Strangers in a seemingly open-to-all website: the gender bias in Wikipedia |url=https://www.academia.edu/41380442 |journal=Equality, Diversity and Inclusion |volume=40 |issue=7 |pages=801–818 |doi=10.1108/EDI-10-2018-0198|s2cid=214364954 }}

In Wikimedia's Gender Equity Report in 2018, 14% of interviewees identified poor community health as a significant challenge in being an editor on Wikipedia. In the study, community health was defined as harassment, a general lack of support for gender equity work and a lack of diversity in leadership.{{Cite web|title=Gender equity report 2018/Barriers to equity - Meta|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_equity_report_2018/Barriers_to_equity|access-date=2020-10-20|website=meta.wikimedia.org|language=en}}

After reviewing testimonies that ranged from microaggressions to direct attacks, the Wikipedia Board of Trustees voted in May 2020 to adopt a more formal moderation process to fight against harassment and to uphold Wikipedia's community standards. The foundation has been tasked to finish the draft of this plan by the end of 2020, and it will include banning users who participate in gender harassment, providing support and communities for all gender identities, putting more resources into the Trust and Safety Team, and more.{{Cite web|last=Robertson|first=Adi|date=2020-05-25|title=Wikimedia is writing new policies to fight Wikipedia harassment|url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/25/21269482/wikimedia-foundation-anti-harassment-code-of-conduct-vote|access-date=2020-10-20|website=The Verge|language=en}}

Collier and Bear in 2012 summarized the reason for working barriers of women in Wikipedia in three words: conflict, criticism and confidence. The authors suggested that "If a community tolerates a culture of conflict that males perceived to be simply 'competitive' or witty and sarcastic they are likely to find themselves losing the many benefits female contributors can bring to the table". Criticism refers to women's unwillingness to edit someone else's work and to let their work be edited by someone else; confidence shows that women are often not too confident about their own expertise and ability in editing and contributing to a certain work. Wikipedia's free to edit policy gives users an open platform, but researchers have suggested that its competitive and critical environment can limit women's incentives to participate.{{Cite book |last1=Collier |first1=Benjamin |title=Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work |last2=Bear |first2=Julia |date=2012 |publisher=ACM Press |isbn=978-1-4503-1086-4 |series=CSCW '12 |location=Seattle, Washington, US |pages=383–392 |chapter=Conflict, criticism, or confidence |doi=10.1145/2145204.2145265 |quote=Known as 'the encyclopedia anyone can edit,' Wikipedia may seem like an easy place to contribute knowledge, but in reality Cassell suggests that 'to have one’s words listened to on Wikipedia, often one must have to debate, defend, and insist that one’s point of view is the only valid one' [...] The heavy levels of conflict within Wikipedia may lead to a gender contribution gap for several reasons. |access-date=1 April 2019 |chapter-url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2145204.2145265 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325090443/https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2145204.2145265 |archive-date=25 March 2019 |url-status=live |s2cid=17473183}}

Through examining the power infrastructure of Wikipedia, Ford and Wajcman pointed out another cause that may reinforce Wikipedia's gender bias. Editing on Wikipedia requires "particular forms of sociotechnical expertise and authority that constitute the knowledge or epistemological infrastructure of Wikipedia".{{Cite journal|last1=Ford|first1=Heather|last2=Wajcman|first2=Judy|date=August 2017|title='Anyone can edit', not everyone does: Wikipedia's infrastructure and the gender gap|journal=Social Studies of Science|volume=47|issue=4|pages=511–527|doi=10.1177/0306312717692172|pmid=28791929|s2cid=32835293|issn=0306-3127|url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68675/1/Wajcman_Anyone%20can%20edit_Final_2017.pdf|access-date=8 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919063205/http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68675/1/Wajcman_Anyone%20can%20edit_Final_2017.pdf|archive-date=19 September 2018|url-status=live}} People who are equipped with this expertise and skill are considered more likely to reach positions with power in Wikipedia. These are proposed to be predominantly men. Further, in examining Wikipedia's detailed policy system, the researchers conclude that its complexity and legal underpinnings grant some users substantial influence in content debates. This dominance can marginalize those not versed in these details, particularly deterring women and new participants.

Studies have also considered the gender bias in Wikipedia from a historical perspective. Konieczny and Klein indicated that Wikipedia is just a part of our biased society which has a long history of gender inequality.{{Cite journal|last1=Konieczny|first1=Piotr|last2=Klein|first2=Maximilian|date=December 2018|title=Gender gap through time and space: A journey through Wikipedia biographies via the Wikidata Human Gender Indicator|journal=New Media & Society|volume=20|issue=12|pages=4608–4633|doi=10.1177/1461444818779080|s2cid=58008216|issn=1461-4448}} As Wikipedia records daily activities by individual editors, it serves as both "a reflection of the world" and "a tool used to produce our world".

An example of a direct account of gender bias comes from Wikipedia user Lightbreather, where she recounts having pornographic images linked to her username as a way to discredit her Wikipedia contributions.{{Cite web|last=Paling|first=Emma|date=2015-10-21|title=Wikipedia's Hostility to Women|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/how-wikipedia-is-hostile-to-women/411619/|access-date=2020-10-20|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US}}

Harassment, however, also exists for LGBT people. Those who identify as being part of the community are typically subjected to harassment if their identities are made public. For example, an administrator on a Wikipedia page blocked an editor, merely because the person's username implied they were a part of the LGBT community.{{Cite news|last=Jacobs|first=Julia|date=2019-04-08|title=Wikipedia Isn't Officially a Social Network. But the Harassment Can Get Ugly.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/us/wikipedia-harassment-wikimedia-foundation.html|access-date=2020-10-20|issn=0362-4331}}

In 2016, Wagner et al.{{cite journal |last1=Wagner |first1=Claudia |last2=Graells-Garrido |first2=Eduardo |last3=Garcia |first3=David |last4=Menczer |first4=Filippo |date=1 March 2016 |title=Women through the glass ceiling: gender asymmetries in Wikipedia |journal=EPJ Data Science |volume=5 |arxiv=1601.04890 |doi=10.1140/epjds/s13688-016-0066-4 |s2cid=1769950 |number=5}} found that gender inequality manifests itself in Wikipedia's biographical content in multiple ways, including unequal thresholds for including an article on the person, topical bias, linguistic bias, and structural inequalities. The authors found that women with biographies on Wikipedia are slightly more notable than men on Wikipedia, and proposed three possible explanations for future research: 1) that editors are more likely to write about their own gender, 2) that men are more likely to create articles about themselves, and 3) that external sources make women less visible. As for topical bias, biographies about women tend to focus more on family-, gender-, and relationship-related topics. This is especially true for biographies of women born before 1900. The authors also found structural differences in terms of meta-data and hyperlinks, which have consequences for information-seeking activities.

Of the 1,960,452 biographical articles on the English Wikipedia in September 2023, only 385,236 or 19.65% were about women.The figures are updated weekly (from WikiData) at Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red 19.650% - 1,960,452 biogs, 385,236 women, as at 18 September 2023{{cite news | url = https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/why-its-so-hard-for-biographies-about-women-to-stay-on-wikipedia | title = Why it's so hard for biographies about women to stay on Wikipedia | first1 = Kimberly | last1 = Adams | first2 = Jesus | last2 = Alvardo | publisher = Marketplace | date = July 27, 2021 | access-date = August 3, 2021 }} 2021 figures The biographies that do exist are considerably more likely to be nominated for deletion than existing articles of men.

In the English Wikipedia and five other language editions that were studied by researchers, the ratio of articles about women to articles about men was higher than in three other databases. However, analysis with computational linguistics concluded that the way women and men are described in articles demonstrates bias, with articles about women more likely to use more words relating to gender and family. The researchers believe that this is a sign Wikipedia editors consider male the "null gender" (in other words, that "male" is assumed unless otherwise specified, an example of male as norm).{{Cite news |url = https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534616/computational-linguistics-reveals-how-wikipedia-articles-are-biased-against-women/ |title = Computational Linguistics Reveals How Wikipedia Articles Are Biased Against Women |author= Emerging Technology from the arXiv |work = MIT Technology Review |access-date = 21 August 2017 |archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20170927024309/https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534616/computational-linguistics-reveals-how-wikipedia-articles-are-biased-against-women/ |archive-date = 27 September 2017 |url-status = live }} Another critique of Wikipedia's approach, from a 2014 Guardian editorial, is that it has difficulty making judgments about "what matters". To illustrate this point they noted that the page listing pornographic actresses was better organized than the page listing women writers.The Guardian, 2014, (London), [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/07/guardian-view-wikipedia-evolving-truth "The Guardian view on Wikipedia: evolving truth"]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112212758/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/07/guardian-view-wikipedia-evolving-truth |date=12 November 2016 }}

The International Journal of Communication published research by Reagle and Lauren Rhue that examined the coverage, gender representation, and article length of thousands of biographical subjects on the English-language Wikipedia and the online Encyclopædia Britannica (as at June 2010). They concluded that Wikipedia provided better coverage and longer articles in general, that Wikipedia typically has more articles on women than Britannica in absolute terms, but Wikipedia articles on women were more likely to be missing than articles on men relative to Britannica. That is, Wikipedia dominated Britannica in biographical coverage, but more so when it comes to men. Similarly, one might say that Britannica is more balanced in whom it neglects to cover than Wikipedia. For both reference works, article length did not consistently differ by gender.{{cite journal |last1 = Reagle |first1 = Joseph |last2 = Rhue |first2 = Lauren |title = Gender Bias in Wikipedia and Britannica |url = http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/777/631 |year = 2011 |journal = International Journal of Communication |volume = 5 |publisher = Joseph Reagle & Lauren Rhue |pages = 1138–1158 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160322081809/http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/777/631 |archive-date = 22 March 2016 |access-date = 1 May 2014 }} A 2023 study using Wikidata to measure content found that Britannica, which covers 50,479 biographies, has 5,999 of them about women, about 11.88%. The study compared the figure to the 18.22% of biographies across Wikimedia projects that were of women, citing 2021 data.{{Cite journal |last1=Gonzalez Larrañaga |first1=Galder |last2=Perez de Viñaspre Garralda |first2=Olatz |date=2023-03-16 |title=Nor da nor Lur Hiztegi Entziklopedikoan? Euskarazko lehenengo entziklopediaren demografia digital alderatua |url=http://www.uztaro.eus/artikulua/174/nor-da-nor-lur-hiztegi-entziklopedikoan-euskarazko-lehenengo-entziklopediaren-demografia-digital-alderatua/2161 |journal=Uztaro. Giza Eta Gizarte-zientzien Aldizkaria |issue=124 |pages=25–49 |doi=10.26876/uztaro.124.2023.2|doi-access=free }} A 2011 study by researchers from the University of Minnesota and three other universities found that articles edited by women, "which presumably were more likely to be of interest to women", were "significantly shorter" on average than those worked on by men or by both men and women.{{cite web |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2013/10/22/175674/the-decline-of-wikipedia/ |title=The Decline of Wikipedia |date=22 October 2013 |last=Simonite |first=Tom |website=MIT Technology Review |access-date=26 May 2021}}{{Cite book |last1=Lam |first1=Shyong (Tony) K. |last2=Uduwage |first2=Anuradha |last3=Dong |first3=Zhenhua |last4=Sen |first4=Shilad |last5=Musicant |first5=David R. |last6=Terveen |first6=Loren |last7=Riedl |first7=John |title=Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration |chapter=WP:clubhouse? |date=2011-10-03 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1145/2038558.2038560 |series=WikiSym '11 |location=New York, NY, US |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=1–10 |doi=10.1145/2038558.2038560 |isbn=978-1-4503-0909-7|s2cid=15730439 }}

File:A side-by-side comparison of the portion of available biographies about women on Wikipedia versus the portion of women biographies nominated for deletion from January 2017 to February 2020.gif

According to a 2021 study by sociologist Francesca Tripodi, biographies on Wikipedia about women are disproportionately nominated for deletion as non-notable.{{cite news | url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/wikipedia-bias-1.6129073 | title=Canadian Nobel scientist's deletion from Wikipedia points to wider bias, study finds | last=Selvarajah | first=Manjula | date=Aug 19, 2021 | work=CBC News}}{{Cite journal|last=Tripodi|first=Francesca|date=2021|title=Ms. Categorized: Gender, notability, and inequality on Wikipedia|journal=New Media & Society|volume=25 |issue=7 |pages=1687–1707 |language=en|doi=10.1177/14614448211023772|s2cid=237883867|issn=1461-4448|doi-access=free}} In October 2018, when Donna Strickland won a Nobel Prize in Physics, numerous write-ups mentioned that she did not previously have a Wikipedia page. A draft had been submitted, but was rejected for not demonstrating "significant coverage (not just passing mentions) about the subject".{{cite news |title=The Nobel prize winning scientist who wasn't famous enough for Wikipedia |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/the-nobel-prize-winning-scientist-who-wasn-t-famous-enough-for-wikipedia-1.3650212 |newspaper=The Irish Times |access-date=3 October 2018 |date=3 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003152517/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/the-nobel-prize-winning-scientist-who-wasn-t-famous-enough-for-wikipedia-1.3650212 |archive-date=3 October 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2018/oct/02/nobel-prize-in-physics-2018-live|title=Nobel physics prize winners include first female laureate for 55 years – as it happened|first=Nicola|last=Davis|date=2 October 2018|access-date=27 February 2019|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226083859/https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2018/oct/02/nobel-prize-in-physics-2018-live|archive-date=26 February 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite news|author=Leyland Cecco|title=Female Nobel prize winner deemed not important enough for Wikipedia entry|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/03/donna-strickland-nobel-physics-prize-wikipedia-denied|work=The Guardian|date=2018-10-03|access-date=2018-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003195646/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/03/donna-strickland-nobel-physics-prize-wikipedia-denied|archive-date=3 October 2018|url-status=live}} A 2024 study by Khandaker Tasnim Huq and Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia on English speaking Wikipedia additionally showed that deletion nominations happen 34% faster after the creation of women biographies than after the creation of men biographies.{{Cite journal |last1=Khandaker Tasnim Huq |last2=Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia |date=June 20, 2024 |title=Gender Gap in Wikipedia: Are Women Vanishing Soon? |url=https://wikiworkshop.org/papers/gender-gap-in-wikipedia-are-notable-women-vanishing-soon.pdf |journal=}}

In July 2006, Stacy Schiff wrote a New Yorker essay about Wikipedia entitled "Know It All".{{Cite web|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/07/31/know-it-all|title=Know It All|first=Stacy|last=Schiff|magazine=The New Yorker|date=24 July 2006}} The Wikipedia article about her was created the very same day. According to Timothy Noah, she was apparently not notable by Wikipedia standards, despite the Guggenheim fellowship and Pulitzer Prize many years previous.{{cite magazine|last=Noah|first=Timothy|date=24 February 2007|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/02/evicted-from-wikipedia.html|title=Evicted from Wikipedia|journal=Slate}} Her essay and the article about her are now featured in the Wikiproject to counter systemic bias.{{cite web |title=Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Countering_systemic_bias#Selection_based_on_notability_of_article_topics |website=Wikipedia |access-date=4 February 2021 |language=en |date=4 February 2021}}

A 2016 study led by Claudia Wagner showed that biographies of women on Wikipedia in English are less visible than biographies of men and concluded that this difference is partly due to the fact that the community links articles about men better together. In 2023, a study conducted by Akhil Arora, Robert West and Martin Gerlach showed that biographies of women are over-represented among orphan articles (articles that cannot be accessed via other articles): in English Wikipedia, women represent 19% of the biographies, but also represent 29% of orphan biographies.{{Cite journal |arxiv=2306.03940 |author=Akhil Arora |author2=Robert West |author3=Martin Gerlach |title=Orphan Articles: The Dark Matter of Wikipedia |journal=Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media |date=2024|volume=18 |pages=100–112 |doi=10.1609/ICWSM.V18I1.31300 }} Furthermore, the study shows that orphan articles are less visible than the others.

While most attention falls on the gap between biographies of men and women on Wikipedia, some research also focuses on linguistics and differences in topics covered.

In 2020, the Association for Computational Linguistics performed a textual analysis of gender biases within Wikipedia articles. The study found that articles about women contain more gender-specific phrases such as "female scientist" while men are referenced using more gender-neutral terms such as "scientist". The study concluded that overall gender bias is decreasing for science and family oriented articles, while increasing for artistic and creative content.{{cite journal |date=2021-02-11 |title=Is Wikipedia succeeding in reducing gender bias? Assessing changes in gender bias in Wikipedia using word embeddings - ACL Anthology |url=https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/2020.nlpcss-1.11/ |pages=94–103 |doi=10.18653/v1/2020.nlpcss-1.11 |s2cid=226283827 |access-date=2021-02-11 |website=ACL Member Portal | The Association for Computational Linguistics Member Portal|doi-access=free }}{{cite conference |last1=Schmahl |first1=Katja Geertruida |last2=Viering |first2=Tom Julian |last3=Makrodimitris |first3=Stavros |last4=Naseri Jahfari |first4=Arman |last5=Tax |first5=David |last6=Loog |first6=Marco |year=2020 |title=Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Natural Language Processing and Computational Social Science |publisher=Association for Computational Linguistics |publication-place=Stroudsburg, PA, US |pages=94–103 |doi=10.18653/v1/2020.nlpcss-1.11 |chapter=Is Wikipedia succeeding in reducing gender bias? Assessing changes in gender bias in Wikipedia using word embeddings|doi-access=free }}

A 2015 study found that, on the English Wikipedia, the word "divorced" appears more than four times as often in biographical articles about women than men. According to the Wikimedia Foundation, "We don't fully know why, but it's likely a multitude of factors, including the widespread tendency throughout history to describe the lives of women through their relationships with men".{{Cite web |last=Maher |first=Katherine |date=2018-10-18 |title=Wikipedia is a mirror of the world's gender biases |url=https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2018/10/18/wikipedia-mirror-world-gender-biases/ |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=Wikimedia Foundation}}

A 2020 study of the coverage of Fortune 1000 CEOs found a gender bias in favour of women. The study investigated contributions from brand-new versus more established editors and found that new editors are more likely to introduce information biased against women, but that established users tend to overcompensate when reacting to these edits. Articles written by a more diverse group of new and established editors were found to be most neutral.{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=Amber |last2=Wigdor |first2=Ariel |last3=Kane |first3=Gerald |date=2020 |title=The Gender Bias Tug-of-War in a Co-creation Community: Core-Periphery Tension on Wikipedia |journal=Journal of Management Information Systems |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=1047–1072 |doi=10.1080/07421222.2020.1831773 |s2cid=227240954 |quote=Though early research found evidence of bias against women on Wikipedia, more recent research has found a minimal amount of evidence of gender bias, and we find evidence of bias against men. [...] While the peripheral contributors, who do most of the editing on Wikipedia, initially "won" the gender bias tug-of-war, as evidenced by early reports of gender bias on Wikipedia, efforts by the core [contributors] to return to a state of neutrality pushed the community away from bias against women. Over time, central contributors have overcorrected to the point where bias against men is becoming an issue.}}

Gender bias harassment also goes beyond those who identify as cisgender on Wikipedia. For example, when celebrities come out as transgender, they are commonly subjected to discrimination and their pronouns are then put up for debate. Notable examples of these debates include Chelsea Manning in 2013 and Caitlyn Jenner in 2015, when their self-declared pronouns were vandalized and reverted to their previous pronouns. A 2021 study found that articles about transgender women and non-binary people tend to have a higher percentage of their article devoted to the "Personal Life" section, which often focuses on the person's gender identity: "The implication that gender identity is a noteworthy trait for just these groups is possibly indicative of 'othering', where individuals are distinguished or labeled as not fitting a societal norm, which often occurs in the context of gender or sexual orientation".{{cite book |last1=Field |first1=Anjalie |title=Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2022 |last2=Park |first2=Chan Young |last3=Lin |first3=Kevin Z. |last4=Tsvetkov |first4=Yulia |date=2022-02-09 |isbn=978-1-4503-9096-5 |pages=2624–2635 |chapter=Controlled Analyses of Social Biases in Wikipedia Bios |doi=10.1145/3485447.3512134 |arxiv=2101.00078 |s2cid=230433680}}

In 2022 study, it was found that scholarly articles by men are more likely to be cited than those by women. Furthermore, publications with women as the main authors are significantly less likely to be referenced on Wikipedia. An explanation for this offered by the authors is homophily, which is the idea that people prefer other people or work similar to their own. This may explain the citation bias as Wikipedia editors are mainly male, so they may prefer publications by men.{{Cite journal |last1=Zheng |first1=Xiang |last2=Chen |first2=Jiajing |last3=Yan |first3=Erjia |last4=Ni |first4=Chaoqun |date=2023 |title=Gender and country biases in Wikipedia citations to scholarly publications |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24723 |journal= Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology|volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=219–233 |doi=10.1002/asi.24723 |s2cid=253379599}}

{{Expand section|date=May 2021}}

Wikipedia has been criticized by some academics and journalists for having primarily male contributors,{{cite web|author=Reagle, Joseph|author-link=Joseph Reagle|title="Free as in sexist?": Free culture and the gender gap|url=http://firstmonday.org/article/view/4291/3381|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520205049/http://firstmonday.org/article/view/4291/3381|archive-date=20 May 2015|access-date=10 October 2015|work=First Monday}}{{cite web|date=26 February 2013|title=Joseph Reagle on the gender gap in geek culture|website=Surprisingly Free|url=http://surprisinglyfree.com/2013/02/26/joseph-reagle-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117015917/http://surprisinglyfree.com/2013/02/26/joseph-reagle-2/|archive-date=17 November 2015|access-date=10 October 2015}} and for having fewer and less extensive articles about women or topics important to women.

Writing for Slate in 2011, conservative political commentator Heather Mac Donald called Wikipedia's gender imbalance a "non-problem in search of a misguided solution". Mac Donald asserted, "The most straightforward explanation for the differing rates of participation in Wikipedia—and the one that conforms to everyday experience—is that, on average, males and females have different interests and preferred ways of spending their free time".{{cite web |last = Mac Donald |first = Heather |url = http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/02/wikipedia_is_maledominated_that_doesnt_mean_its_sexist.html |title = Wikipedia Is Male-Dominated. That Doesn't Mean It's Sexist. |website = Slate |date = 9 February 2011 |access-date = 7 January 2015 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150107205929/http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/02/wikipedia_is_maledominated_that_doesnt_mean_its_sexist.html |archive-date = 7 January 2015 }}

In August 2014, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales announced in a BBC interview the Wikimedia Foundation's plans for "doubling down" on the gender content gap at Wikipedia. Wales said the Foundation would be open to more outreach and more software changes.[https://www.bbc.com/news/business-28701772 Wikipedia 'completely failed' to fix gender imbalance] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229004148/http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28701772 |date=29 December 2016 }}, BBC interview with Jimmy Wales, 8 August 2014; starting at 45 seconds.

In Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado Perez notes that many Wikipedia pages that refer to men's teams or occupations are listed as gender neutral (England national football team), while pages for similar teams or occupations for women are specifically gendered (England women's national football team).{{cite book |last=Perez |first=Caroline Criado |author-link=Caroline Criado Perez |date=2019 |title=Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men |publisher=Abrams |page=13 |isbn=978-1-4197-2907-2}}

In 2022, Wikipedia was seen as "reflecting the biases of its community editors."{{Cite news |last1=Qaiser |first1=Farah |last2=Zaringhalam |first2=Maryam |last3=Bernardi |first3=Francesca |last4=Wade |first4=Jess |last5=Pinckney |first5=Emily |date=May 23, 2022 |title=How academic institutions can help to close Wikipedia's gender gap |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/d41586-022-01456-x |url=https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01456-x |access-date=December 22, 2023}}

File:Giants in the field of Women in the Arts 2.jpg

The Wikimedia Foundation has officially held the stance, since at least 2011 when Gardner was executive director, that gender bias exists in the project. It has made some attempts to address it but Gardner has expressed frustration with the degree of success achieved. She has also noted that "in the very limited leisure time women had, they tended to be more involved in social activities instead of editing Wikipedia. 'Women see technology more as a tool they use to accomplish tasks, rather than something fun in itself.{{'"}}{{cite news|last=Huang|first=Keira|date=11 August 2013|title=Wikipedia fails to bridge gender gap|newspaper=South China Morning Post|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1295872/wikipedia-fails-bridge-gender-gap|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115195821/http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1295872/wikipedia-fails-bridge-gender-gap|archive-date=15 January 2016}}{{cite web|date=Fall 2013|title=Wikistorming|url=http://femtechnet.newschool.edu/wikistorming/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717034630/http://femtechnet.newschool.edu/wikistorming/|archive-date=17 July 2015|website=FemTechNet}} In 2011, the Foundation set a target of having 25 percent of its contributors identifying as female by 2015. In August 2013, Gardner said, "I didn't solve it. We didn't solve it. The Wikimedia Foundation didn't solve it. The solution won't come from the Wikimedia Foundation."

In 2017, Wikimedia Foundation put a funding of $500,000 in building a more encouraging environment for diversity on Wikipedia.{{Cite web|title=2016-2017 Fundraising Report - Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki|url=https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/2016-2017_Fundraising_Report|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401042716/https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/2016-2017_Fundraising_Report|archive-date=1 April 2019|access-date=2019-03-31|website=foundation.wikimedia.org}}

VisualEditor, a project funded by the Wikimedia Foundation that allows for WYSIWYG-style editing on Wikipedia, is said to be aimed in part at closing the gender gap.{{cite journal|date=13 July 2012|title=Kate Middleton's wedding gown and Wikipedia's gender gap.|journal=Slate |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/07/13/kate_middleton_s_wedding_gown_and_wikipedia_s_gender_gap_.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141203174753/http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/07/13/kate_middleton_s_wedding_gown_and_wikipedia_s_gender_gap_.html|archive-date=3 December 2014|access-date=4 December 2014|last1=Bosch |first1=Torie }}

Thanks to a Wikimedia Foundation grant, in March 2021 an alpha version of Humaniki was released, providing a wide variety of gender gap statistics based on Wikidata. The stats are automatically updated as new information is made available.{{cite web|url=https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/03/15/humaniki-march-update-public-launch-of-alpha-release/|title=Humaniki March Update: Public Launch of Alpha Release|publisher=Wikimedia|date=15 March 2021|access-date=26 March 2021 }}

Dedicated edit-a-thons have been organized to increase the coverage of women's topics in Wikipedia and to encourage more women to edit Wikipedia.{{cite web |url = https://nymag.com/thecut/2014/02/closing-wikipedias-gender-gap-reluctantly.html |title = Closing Wikipedia's Gender Gap – Reluctantly |work = New York |date = 11 February 2014 |access-date = 27 August 2014 |author = Stoeffel |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140902160836/http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/02/closing-wikipedias-gender-gap-reluctantly.html |archive-date = 2 September 2014 }} These events are supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, which sometimes provides mentors and technology to help guide newer editors through the process. Recent edit-a-thons have given specific focus to topics such as Australian female neuroscientists and women in Jewish history.

An early-2015 initiative to create a "women-only" space for Wikipedia editors was strongly opposed by Wikipedians.Paling, Emma, "[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/how-wikipedia-is-hostile-to-women/411619/ How Wikipedia Is Hostile to Women] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151021174625/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/how-wikipedia-is-hostile-to-women/411619/|date=21 October 2015}}", The Atlantic, 21 October 2015 {{Subscription required}}.

Some users have tried to combat this male-dominated space by creating support groups for female Wikipedia users, a prominent one being the WikiWomen's User Group.{{Cite web|title=WikiWomen's User Group - Meta|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiWomen%27s_User_Group|access-date=2020-10-20|website=meta.wikimedia.org|language=en}}{{primary source inline|date=March 2021}} This group is used not only to promote women editing and contributing on more pages, but to also add more pages about women who contribute to society at large.

The Wikipedia Teahouse project was launched with the goal to provide a user-friendly environment for newcomers, with a particular goal of boosting women's participation in Wikipedia.{{cite web |url = http://dub.washington.edu/pubs/364 |title = Tea & Sympathy: Crafting Positive New User Experiences on Wikipedia |website = washington.edu |publisher = Proc. CSCW '13, 23–27 February 2013, San Antonio, Texas, USA |year = 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150209213415/http://dub.washington.edu/pubs/364 |archive-date = 9 February 2015 }}

In the summer of 2015, the WikiProject Women in Red was launched on the English-language version of Wikipedia, focusing on the creation of new articles about notable women.{{cite news|author=Redden, Molly|date=19 March 2016|title=Women in science on Wikipedia: will we ever fill the information gap?|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/19/women-in-science-on-wikipedia-will-we-ever-fill-the-information-gap|url-status=live|access-date=16 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108145205/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/19/women-in-science-on-wikipedia-will-we-ever-fill-the-information-gap|archive-date=8 November 2017}} Mainly through its monthly virtual editathons, Women in Red encourages editors to participate in extending Wikipedia's coverage.{{cite web|date=21 August 2017|title=Improving gender balance on Wikipedia|url=http://www.rsc.org/news-events/community/2017/aug/wikithon/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012125221/http://www.rsc.org/news-events/community/2017/aug/wikithon/|archive-date=12 October 2017|access-date=16 August 2018|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry}}{{cite news|author=Gordon, Maggie|date=9 November 2017|title=Wikipedia editing marathons add women's voices to online resource|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/article/Adding-women-s-voices-to-Wikipedia-12344424.php|url-status=live|access-date=16 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816194559/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/article/Adding-women-s-voices-to-Wikipedia-12344424.php|archive-date=16 August 2018}} Thanks in part to the efforts of this project, by June 2018 some 17,000 new women's biographies had been added to Wikipedia.{{cite news|author=Khan, Sadiq|date=12 June 2018|title=Why we need to close Wikipedia's gender page gap|newspaper=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/need-close-wikipedias-gender-page-gap/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw|url-status=live|access-date=16 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816194344/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/need-close-wikipedias-gender-page-gap/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw|archive-date=16 August 2018}}

Many Wikiprojects are committed to promoting editors' contribution on gender and women studies, which include "WikiProject women, WikiProject feminism, WikiProject gender studies, and the WikiProject countering systemic bias/gender gap task force".{{Cite journal|last1=Kennedy|first1=K.|year=2017|title=Why women should be editing Wikipedia|journal=Women's Studies Journal|volume=31|issue=1|pages=94–99|issn=0112-4099|oclc=14929028}}

Expanding beyond the male/female gender binary, Wikiproject LGBT creates a space for "re/writing the inclusion and representation of LGBTQ culture into Wikipedia mainspace".

In 2018, one edit-a-thon organizer named Sarah Osborne Bender explained to The Guardian how men remove Wikipedia pages about women leaders. "I wrote a Wikipedia article about a woman gallerist and the next day, I got a message saying it was deleted because she is not a 'noteworthy person', but someone in our community gave me advice on how to edit it to make the page stay".{{Cite news |date=2018-03-15 |title=Wikipedia's forgotten women: inside the editing marathon to fix imbalance|first=Nadja|last= Sayej |url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/mar/15/wikipedia-edit-a-thon-women-arts |access-date=2022-12-13 |newspaper=The Guardian |language=en}}

In 2022, an article in VICE magazine detailed how Jessica Wade has created more than 1,700 Wikipedia entries on women scientists since 2017 for many women whose contributions have gone unnoticed.{{Cite web |title=I've Made More Than 1,700 Wikipedia Entries on Women Scientists and I'm Not Yet Done |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34k9e/wikipedia-pages-women-scientists-jessica-wade-stem |first=Arman|last=Khan|date=18 November 2022|access-date=2022-12-13 |website=www.vice.com |language=en}}

Wade has made a large contribution to a Wikipedia campaign that encourages the creation of Wikipedia articles about notable female academics, in order to promote female role models in STEM. Wade has created new Wikipedia biographical articles to raise the profile of minorities in STEM.{{cite news|title=Why are so few women biographies included in Wikipedia?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07hs3sn|newspaper=BBC Newsday|date=25 July 2019|access-date=28 July 2019|quote=She's been writing biographies of women and other minorities in science and engineering since 2017 and adds a new entry almost on a daily basis.|archive-date=3 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803034015/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07hs3sn|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.pride.com/news/2019/1/02/scientist-updating-wikipedia-women-poc-lgbtq-history|title=This Scientist Is Updating Wikipedia with Women, POC, & LGBTQ+ History|date=2 January 2019|website=pride.com|first=Zachary|last= Zane|access-date=2 January 2019|archive-date=20 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820105152/https://www.pride.com/news/2019/1/02/scientist-updating-wikipedia-women-poc-lgbtq-history|url-status=live}} As of February 2020, she had written over 900 biographies on Wikipedia.{{cite web |title=Physicist writes 900 Wikipedia entries to boost diversity in science |url=https://www.itv.com/news/2020-02-11/physicist-writes-900-wikipedia-entries-to-boost-diversity-in-science/ |website=ITV News |date=11 February 2020 |access-date=13 February 2020 |language=en |archive-date=27 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527160929/https://www.itv.com/news/2020-02-11/physicist-writes-900-wikipedia-entries-to-boost-diversity-in-science/ |url-status=live }} By January 2021, this figure had risen to 1,200. By February 2024, it was over 2,100.{{cite news|title=Ancient Roman Writings Revealed |first=Victoria |last=Gill|newspaper=BBC Inside Science|date=8 February 2024 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001w12r}}

On 12 April 2019, The Washington Post published an op-ed titled "The black hole photo is just one example of championing women in science",{{cite news |last1=Zaringhalam |first1=Maryam |last2=Wade |first2=Jess |date=12 April 2019 |title=The black hole photo is just one example of championing women in science |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/it-matters-who-we-champion-in-science/2019/04/12/50a1781a-5d3d-11e9-9625-01d48d50ef75_story.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=24 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416073320/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/it-matters-who-we-champion-in-science/2019/04/12/50a1781a-5d3d-11e9-9625-01d48d50ef75_story.html |archive-date=16 April 2019}} co-authored by Zaringhalam and Wade, advocating for increased recognition for women who contribute to science. After the first image of a black hole was released, media coverage celebrated Katie Bouman's role leading the creation of the image processing algorithm.{{Cite news |last=Ellis-Petersen |first=Hannah |date=2019-04-11 |title=Katie Bouman: the 29-year-old whose work led to first black hole photo |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/apr/11/katie-bouman-black-hole-photo |access-date=2023-10-29 |issn=0261-3077}} The op-ed emphasized the power of social media like Twitter and collaborative information repositories like Wikipedia for crediting women's scientific contributions.

As an example of insufficient coverage in the English-language Wikipedia of women in science, the article points to the deletion of the biography of Clarice Phelps.{{cite news |first=Phoebe|last= Southworth |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/07/physicist-embroiled-sexism-row-wikipedia-female-scientists-wrote/ |title=Physicist accuses Wikipedia editors of sexism after female scientists she wrote profiles for tagged 'not notable enough' |website=telegraph.co.uk |publisher=The Daily Telegraph |date=7 December 2019 |access-date=24 February 2020 |archive-date=27 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127032027/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/07/physicist-embroiled-sexism-row-wikipedia-female-scientists-wrote/ |url-status=live }} Wade created a short Wikipedia biography of Phelps in September 2018.{{cite web |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90339700/a-deleted-wikipedia-page-speaks-volumes-about-its-biggest-problem |title=A deleted Wikipedia page speaks volumes about its biggest problem |first=Claire|last=Jarvis|work=Fastcompany.com |date=25 April 2019 |access-date=1 March 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429091704/https://www.fastcompany.com/90339700/a-deleted-wikipedia-page-speaks-volumes-about-its-biggest-problem |url-status=live }} The deletion of that article on 11 February 2019{{cite web |last=Jarvis |first=Claire |date=25 April 2019 |title=What a Deleted Profile Tells Us About Wikipedia's Diversity Problem |url=https://undark.org/2019/04/25/wikipedia-diversity-problem/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428162539/https://undark.org/2019/04/25/wikipedia-diversity-problem/ |archive-date=28 April 2019 |access-date=24 February 2020 |work=Undark.org}} led to a prolonged editorial discussion and its repeated restoration and re-deletion.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/wikipedia-clarice-phelps/|title=Wikipedia doesn't think this Black female scientist is notable enough for a page|date=29 April 2019|website=dailydot.com|publisher=The Daily Dot|first=Samira|last=Sadeque|access-date=6 March 2020|archive-date=30 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430042820/https://www.dailydot.com/irl/wikipedia-clarice-phelps/|url-status=live}} Katrina Krämer wrote in Chemistry World:{{cite news |last=Krämer |first=Katrina |date=3 July 2019 |title=Female scientists' pages keep disappearing from Wikipedia – what's going on? |work=Chemistry World |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry |url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/female-scientists-pages-keep-disappearing-from-wikipedia--whats-going-on/3010664.article |url-status=live |access-date=3 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101094843/https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/female-scientists-pages-keep-disappearing-from-wikipedia--whats-going-on/3010664.article |archive-date=1 November 2020}}

{{Quote|text=In Phelps' case, her name didn’t appear in the articles announcing tennessine's discovery. She wasn't profiled by mainstream media. Most mentions of her work are on her employer's website – a source that's not classed as independent by Wikipedia standards and therefore not admissible when it comes to establishing notability. The [Wikipedia] community consensus was that her biography had to go.}}

Wade told Chemistry World she believes such omissions of scientific researchers from coverage in Wikipedia are regrettable, stating her impression that it accepts entries for even the most obscure popular-media figures. By January 2020, there was a consensus to restore the article, as by then new sources had become available.{{Cite web|url=http://en.wikibedia.ru/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2020_January#31_January_2020|title=Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2020 January Wikipedia|website=en.wikibedia.ru|access-date=9 March 2020|archive-date=2 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802175925/http://en.wikibedia.ru/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2020_January#31_January_2020|url-status=live}} As of 2019, of the 600 articles about female scientists Wade had written, 6 had been deleted for not meeting Wikipedia's criteria for notability.

In 2013, FemTechNet launched "Wikistorming" as a project that offers feminist scholarship and encourages Wikipedia editing as part of school and college teaching.{{Cite web|url=https://femtechnet.org/docc/feminist-wiki-storming/|title=feminist wiki-storming – FemTechNet|access-date=2019-03-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401012841/https://femtechnet.org/docc/feminist-wiki-storming/|archive-date=1 April 2019|url-status=live}}

In July 2014, the National Science Foundation announced that it would spend $200,000 to study systemic gender bias on Wikipedia.{{Cite web |title=NSF Award Search: Award # 1322971 - Collaborative Research: Wikipedia and the Democratization of Academic Knowledge |url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1322971&HistoricalAwards=false |access-date=2023-08-28 |website=www.nsf.gov |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=NSF Award Search: Award # 1322934 - Collaborative Research: Wikipedia and the Democratization of Academic Knowledge |url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1322934&HistoricalAwards=false |access-date=2023-08-28 |website=www.nsf.gov |language=en}}

In 2015, Jennifer C. Edwards, history department chairperson at Manhattan College, explained that educational institutions can use Wikipedia assignments such as encyclopedia's gender gap analysis and coverage of female topics to inspire students to alter the current gender imbalance.{{Cite journal|last=Edwards|first=Jennifer C.|date=2015|title=Wiki Women: Bringing Women into Wikipedia through Activism and Pedagogy|journal=The History Teacher|volume=48|issue=3|pages=409–436|issn=0018-2745|jstor=24810523}}

In 2022, Angela Fan, a researcher at Meta Platforms, announced an open-source software artificial intelligence model that will be able to create Wikipedia-style biographical rough drafts that "will one day help Wikipedia editors create many thousands of accurate, compelling biography entries for important people who are currently not on the site", including women.{{Cite news |last=Fried |first=Ina |date=2022-03-30 |title=Meta researcher using AI to address Wikipedia's gender gap |work=Axios |url=https://www.axios.com/meta-researcher-ai-wikipedia-gender-gap-fe6db4c3-f04b-4ce9-8516-8777234c1b74.html |access-date=2022-03-30}}

• Racial bias on Wikipedia
• Geographical bias on Wikipedia
• Second-generation gender bias
• Systemic bias in Wikipedia

{{Reflist}}

{{Meta|Gender gap}}

{{Scholia|topic}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Jennifer C. |title=Wiki Women: Bringing Women into Wikipedia through Activism and Pedagogy |journal=The History Teacher |date=2015 |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=409–436 |jstor=24810523 |ref=none}}

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• {{cite news |author = |date = 2 February 2011 |title = Where Are the Women in Wikipedia? |url = https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/02/where-are-the-women-in-wikipedia |newspaper = The New York Times |access-date = 9 August 2014 |ref=none}} - Introduction and links to eight opinions.
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• {{cite journal|last1=Hinnosaar|first1=Marit|title=Gender Inequality in New Media: Evidence from Wikipedia|journal = Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization |date = July 2019 |pages = 262–276 |volume = 163 |doi = 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.04.020 |s2cid=182928068|url=http://www.carloalberto.org/assets/working-papers/no.411.pdf |ref=none}}
• {{cite arXiv|last1=Vitulli|first1=Marie A.|title=Writing Women in Mathematics into Wikipedia |date=20 October 2017 |eprint=1710.11103v3 |class=math.HO |ref=none}}
• {{cite arXiv |last1=Wagner |first1=Claudia |last2=Garcia |first2=David |last3=Jadidi |first3=Mohsen |last4=Strohmaier |first4=Markus |year=2015 |title=It's a Man's Wikipedia? Assessing Gender Inequality in an Online Encyclopedia |eprint=1501.06307 |class=cs.CY |ref=none}}

{{Sister project links|auto=yes|m=Category:Gender gap}}

• {{Cite web |title=Wiki Loves Women |url=https://www.wikiloveswomen.org/|language=en-US}}

{{Gender equality}}

{{Wikipedia |state=expanded}}

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Category:Criticism of Wikipedia

Category:Gender equality

Category:Sexism

Category:Wikipedia reliability