Czech Wikipedia Women’s Month 2023 – 260 articles about women. Which are the most read?

In March and April 2023, Wikimedia Czech Republic dedicated 4 editathons, one WikiSchool for seniors and one WikiClub to women and their topics. A total of 71 Wikipedians participated in the Women’s Month on Wikipedia challenge, many of them editing for the very first time. Together they created and expanded 260 articles. We recruited several female ambassadors for the project and had the support of representatives from the British, American and Swedish embassies. Read more about the challenge’s success this year.

The most read women – Lejla Abbasová, Věra Chytilová and Barbara Paldus

A total of 357 edits in 260 articles about women and women-related topics were made thanks to this year’s Women’s Month challenge on Wikipedia. Similarly to other Wikipedias, the Czech Wikipedia has only 17% of biographies about women, still missing many women from world and Czech and Czechoslovak history and present. The list of articles created and expanded as part of the challenge is proof that even the stories of women who have moved the world are still often untold.

As Natalie Wilkins, Cultural Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in the Czech Republic, said at the Editathon at the American Center, “If articles about women are missing on Wikipedia and other places online, the world will not know their stories and the successes they have achieved.”

The enriched article Lejla Abbasová, for example, was opened almost 10,000 times between 1 March and 12 June. The second most read article about a personality was the expanded article about the director Věra Chytilová, and over 5 thousand users read the brand new article about the entrepreneur and investor Barbara Paldus during the same time period.

Endometriosis or Minerva Girls’ Gymnasium

But the editors didn’t just focus on personalities. For example, the article Endometriosis, which discusses the gynaecological disease, has been significantly expanded. The fact that it is by far the most read page of the challenge (10 858 views in 3.5 months) is a testament to the importance of the article. On a positive note, for example, the article Women in Architecture was published and the article on the first girls’ gymnasium in Austria-Hungary, the Minerva Gymnasium, was expanded.

Editaton Women in Science in cooperation with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

We are very pleased to have collaborated with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic on the Women in Science Editathon, which took place on 31 March. We contributed to the increase in the number of quality articles about prominent women scientists on the Czech Wikipedia.

21 participants attended the editathon and for many academics it was their first experience editing Wikipedia. Yet they are the ones who can greatly enrich Wikipedia with their expertise, experience in writing scholarly texts and access to resources. The event was covered by Deník N newspaper. Among others an article about the Czech theologian Denise Červenková was published.

Women in Czech film, women in art, women everywhere you look

The project Women in Czech Film was created following an invitation to the seminar Women in Czech Film led by Tereza Czesany Dvořáková at the Department of Film Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. The work resulted in two dozen new articles, many extended articles, and many original photographs. We have written a separate article about this project. Another great experience was the Editaton Women in Art, which was attended by students from the Departments of Theatre Studies and History of Art at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University.

Editaton at the American Center and support from influencers

More than forty people came in person or online to the largest Women’s Month event, the Women on Wikipedia editathon at the American Center. Among them were Women’s Month ambassadors Lejla Abbasová, Alena Doláková, Eliška Soukupová and Martina Bechyňová.

Editathon at the American Center

It was with great pleasure that we welcomed distinguished guests from the British, American and Swedish embassies. The American Embassy was represented by Deputy Chief of Mission Christina J. Agor and Cultural Attaché Natalie Wilkins. We were also honoured by the presence of the Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy Kate Davenport. The Swedish Embassy was represented by Assistant Ambassador Martina Storek and intern Lisa-Marie Novarino. If you are interested in what the ladies added to Wikipedia, watch the video report from the biggest editathon of the challenge. (English subtitles available.)

The project was financially supported by the US Embassy in the Czech Republic under the Small Grants Programme. We would like to thank them and everyone who participated in this year’s challenge and congratulate the winners. We look forward to seeing them again next year!