FII Wiki Project

FII Wiki Project is a campaign of Feminism In India (FII) to promote and encourage women editors in India to edit on Wikipedia on topics related to women, gender and feminism. FII conducts monthly Wikipedia edit-a-thons to increase the representation of women and people from marginalised genders in India. We attempt to close to the gender-gap on Wikipedia by focusing on editors who are women and from marginalised genders and topics related to the same. FII is a digital intersectional feminist platform to learn, educate and develop a feminist sensibility among the youth. It is required to unravel the F-word and demystify all the negativity surrounding it. FII amplifies the voices of women and marginalised communities using tools of art, media, culture, technology and community.

What we do

FII started organising Wikipedia edit-a-thons in October 2016 and since then organises one edit-a-thon every month on a Saturday. Every month, FII identifies a specific theme, and announces a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on our website and social media channels.

These edit-a-thons are attended by the FII team, as well as members from our social media community who are often first-time editors. However, we have started to get repeat attendees. We also often conduct edit-a-thons in collaboration with specific organisations, like Punjabi Wikimedians, queer rights organisation Gaylaxy Magazine, Breakthrough India, CIS-A2K, the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi among others. Past themes have included Indian Women Artists, Indian Women Poets, Indian Women In Science & Tech, Famous Indian Trans People, Gender Rights Organizations In India among others.

The participants are taught the rules of Wikipedia editing, and then begin to research and edit on their chosen Wikipedia pages. Our previous edit-a-thons have included Wikipedia pages being created and edited in English, Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi and Swedish.

Participants are required to bring their own laptops. FII provides them with a stable internet connection, as well as refreshments over the course of the day.

A report of all our Wikipedia Editathons can be found here.

Why we do it

Our vision is to increase the representation of Indian women and non-binary people on Wikipedia, as well as the number of women and non-binary editors on Wikipedia.

According to a study conducted in 2011, only 9% of the editors at Wikipedia were women. And the percentage for India is even lower, just 3%. Wikipedia recognises the systemic gender bias that is created because of factors such as these and thus enables its diverse range of users to edit and create Wikipedia pages, with reliable and authentic sources.

Our Wikipedia Editathons also train our participants on how to edit, equipping them with the skills of research, citation, editing, and formatting on Wikipedia.

Media coverage

We have received a lot of media coverage for our wikipedia Editathons, from both national and international publications.

1. Tearing down the digital gender divide – LUSH UK
2. Writing women into history: feminist Wikipedia Edit-a-thons in India – Access Now
3. Bashing out the bias, word by word – DNA India
4. Here’s how India Helps its Women in Tech – The Better India
5. With a series of Wikipedia Edit-a-Thons, Indian women are finally getting their due online – Quartz Media
6. Mind The Gap – Caravan India
7. Making Wikipedia – and Society – More Gender Representative – The Wire.in