Making women more visible in Ukrainian Wikipedia despite a difficult winter – Diff

Campaign background and goals

From 8 December to 11 January, Ukrainian Wikipedia organized the online campaign “(Un)known Women in Wikipedia”. Its goal was to make women’s achievements more visible by creating and improving articles about women whose work deserves broader recognition: scientists, artists, educators, journalists, public figures, athletes, writers, human rights defenders, military servicewomen, and others.

The “(Un)known Women in Wikipedia” campaign replaced the earlier Ukrainian Wikipedia marathon “She Did It”, which had been held annually from 2019 to 2023. The new campaign name was inspired by the Polish initiative “(Nie)znane kobiety Wikipedii”. 

Women’s biographies and achievements remain underrepresented in Wikipedia. For example, among more than 290,000 biographical articles in Ukrainian Wikipedia, only 18.04% — 52,462 articles — are about women. The campaign was designed as one practical step toward reducing this gap.

Despite taking place during an extremely difficult winter for Ukraine, the campaign became one of the largest Ukrainian Wikipedia campaigns of the year. During this period, Russian missile and drone attacks repeatedly damaged energy infrastructure, causing power outages, interruptions to internet access, and problems with heating in many regions. In these conditions, many participants edited Wikipedia whenever electricity and internet connection were available — sometimes only during short windows between blackouts.

Campaign results and special nominations

In total, 73 participants created and improved 525 articles in Ukrainian Wikipedia. The campaign included a general category and eight special nominations, which helped highlight women from different fields and communities. The nominations focused on:

• women polar explorers and Antarctic researchers;
• Ukrainian women writers;
• Ukrainian women educators;
• Ukrainian women journalists;
• Karaim women;
• Crimean Tatar women;
• women defenders of Ukraine;
• women who should have received the Nobel Prize but did not.

Several partner institutions and organizations supported the special nominations and helped shape their thematic focus. These included the National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine, Fondation Reading Studios, the Girls Create initiative, the Pedagogical Museum of Ukraine, the NGO Women in Media, the NGO Union of Karaims of Ukraine, and the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

The articles created and improved during the campaign showed how diverse women’s stories can be — from local cultural history to polar research, education, politics, military service, and public life. In the general category, the winning articles were about Iryna Yanina, a Ukrainian art historian, museum worker, member of the National Union of Folk Art Masters of Ukraine and Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine, and Kimi Onoda, a Japanese politician from the Liberal Democratic Party. These articles were written by Hanna Makarenko and Pusf.smbd.

The special nomination on women polar explorers and Antarctic researchers highlighted both Ukrainian and international stories. The recognized articles included biographies of Anzhelika Hanchuk, a Ukrainian meteorologist, forecaster and climatologist who took part in the 27th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition and later headed the 31st Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition; Mariia Pavlovska, a Ukrainian marine microbiologist who participated in seasonal expeditions to the Akademik Vernadsky Antarctic station; and Preet Chandi, a British Army officer who completed a solo expedition across Antarctica to the South Pole and later set a record for the longest solo and unsupported polar expedition.

The campaign also included stories directly connected with Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. In the special nomination Women Defenders of Ukraine, one of the recognized articles was about Lana Chornohorska, a Ukrainian servicewoman, journalist, artist, civic activist and cultural figure who was killed while carrying out a combat mission on the southern front. Including such biographies in Wikipedia is also part of documenting contemporary Ukrainian history and preserving the memory of people whose lives and work are connected with Ukraine’s defense.

All participants who created or substantially improved at least two articles received souvenirs from Wikimedia Ukraine, while prizes for the special nominations were provided by the campaign partners. We are also especially proud of the campaign jury and organizing team, who dedicated significant time and effort to reviewing more than 500 articles and making this large campaign possible. 

Follow-up activities in Wikidata

After the first “(Un)known Women” campaign in Ukrainian Wikipedia, we have already held its follow-up in Wikidata. From 8 to 22 March, the first “(Un)known Women in Wikidata” campaign brought together 20 participants, who added or improved data about 242 women. These included Vanessa Rosales, a Colombian fashion historian, feminist blogger and writer; Anzhela Yurkivska, a Ukrainian artist and traditional paper-cutting master; Tetiana Voinarovska, a Ukrainian folk artist; Viktoriia Kolchyk, a Ukrainian athlete; and more than 230 other women. As part of the campaign, a Wikidata edit-a-thon was also held on 10 March, where participants edited together, looked for sources, asked questions, and helped one another. It became a warm and friendly wiki meeting. 

Before the main campaign began, participants could also take part in a mini logo contest, open until 1 December. Its goal was to find a visual symbol that would reflect the ideas of visibility, recognition, and diversity of women’s stories in Wikipedia. 

• Detailed results of the “(Un)known Women in Wikipedia” campaign are available on the campaign results page: https://w.wiki/GUcX
• All articles created or improved during the campaign can be viewed here: https://w.wiki/N8rr
• Detailed results of the “(Un)known Women in Wikidata” campaign are available on the campaign results page: https://w.wiki/JAse

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