“Women, Life, Freedom” during the Mahsa Amini protests in Ottawa, 2022, by Taymaz Valley
In Iran, the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” (Zan, Zendegi, Azadi) became a symbol of resistance and hope during the 2022 protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini while in police custody. Since then, it has come to represent a broader struggle for gender equality and civil rights in the country. Women in Iran still face many restrictions—in the media, in public life, and even in how they are remembered.
In this context, Wikipedia plays an important role. It gives people around the world the chance to share knowledge, correct imbalances, and make sure that women’s stories are not left out. The Women in Red project helps address this by focusing on “red links”—topics about women that don’t yet have articles—and turning them into “blue links” with well-sourced content.
Since 2021, the Iranian Wikimedians User Group has organized an annual Women in Red campaign on Persian Wikipedia to increase the number of articles about women. The 2025 edition marked the fifth year of this effort, bringing together new and experienced editors who believe that writing about women is one way to support freedom, equality, and justice.
The Campaign: How it Worked
The 2025 Women in Red campaign on Persian Wikipedia ran for one full month—from March 8 to April 6, 2025—to coincide with International Women’s Day and the start of the Persian new year. The campaign was hosted on the Fountain platform, where participants could submit their articles and track their progress.
As in previous years, the event was organized by the Iranian Wikimedians User Group, with User:Persia and User:Darafsh serving as coordinators and juries.
To ensure that contributions were meaningful and met the quality standards of the Persian Wikipedia community, the campaign followed a clear set of rules. Each article had to be directly related to women or women-centered topics, and it was required to meet a minimum length of 5,000 bytes and 500 words. Articles needed to be based on reliable sources, written in clear and proper language, and satisfy Wikipedia’s notability guidelines. Submissions that consisted of lists, relied on machine translation, or carried maintenance tags were not accepted.
Outreach and Preparation: Connecting with Communities Before the Campaign
Before the campaign officially began, we organized two key events to engage the community and raise awareness—both inside and outside the Wikimedia movement.
Poster of the public webinar on International Women’s Day, by Nahid Ajam
The first was a public webinar on International Women’s Day, streamed live on YouTube, Kick, Twitch, Instagram, X, and the Iranian Wikimedians website, with 546 live viewers. The event opened with a talk by Mahnaz Afshar, an artist and activist, who spoke about the everyday struggles and resilience of Iranian women. She highlighted how women continue to balance personal roles with creative and professional ambitions despite social restrictions. Sahar Tousi, an athlete and member of the “Girls of Tomorrow” campaign, then shared her story as the first Iranian woman to cycle solo from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf to promote girls’ education. She emphasized the shared responsibility of making women’s achievements visible. Finally, Darafsh from the Iranian Wikimedians User Group introduced the Wikipedia platform, explained the contest’s purpose, and gave a step-by-step guide to article creation—helping newcomers gain confidence to contribute.
The second event was a training session for new editors, designed to introduce the goals of the campaign and provide practical guidance on how to create high-quality articles. During the session, experienced users WASP-Outis and Harold Krabs led tutorials on how to write articles from scratch and how to translate content from other languages into Persian using available tools.
To support participants throughout the campaign, we also created a Telegram support group, where community members actively answered questions and helped troubleshoot issues. This real-time interaction proved especially helpful for newcomers, including women who were contributing to Wikipedia for the first time.
In addition, a set of short instructional videos was produced by user Artin and published on YouTube. These videos offered clear, step-by-step explanations of how to write and submit articles for the campaign, how to use the Fountain tool, and where to go for help.
Participation and Impact
Poster of the campaign, by Saeed Sorkhi
The 2025 Women in Red campaign on Persian Wikipedia saw 57 users take part, collectively creating 1,530 new articles over the course of one month. These contributions significantly expanded the encyclopedia’s coverage of women and women-related topics in Persian. The campaign attracted both seasoned Wikipedians and newcomers—some of them women contributing for the first time. Outreach events, training sessions, and ongoing support through Telegram and YouTube helped participants feel confident and informed. The shared goal of amplifying women’s presence in free knowledge brought the community together around a sense of purpose.
Submitted articles covered a diverse range of subjects—from athletes, artists, and scholars to journalists, activists, and historical figures. All articles were reviewed to ensure they met the campaign’s quality criteria: sufficient length, clear writing, reliable sources, and relevance to women’s representation.
Recognition and Top Contributors
To acknowledge outstanding contributions and encourage participation, the campaign offered prizes to the top six contributors based on both the quantity and quality of their work. Articles were carefully reviewed to ensure they met all the criteria, including originality, relevance, sourcing, and language. The judging process was carried out by Persia and Darafsh, both long-time members of the Iranian Wikimedians User Group.
Although Persia created the highest number of articles—222 in total, with 189 meeting the quality threshold—they did not accept a prize due to their role as both an organizer and judge. This ensured fairness and transparency in the evaluation process.
The final top-ranked participants were:
User:Tisfoon – 178 articles, all eligible
User:Harold Krabs – 176 articles (175 eligible)
User:Delta-light – 167 articles (166 eligible)
User:Khoshnevisan – 140 articles, all eligible
User:Pereoptic – 104 articles, all eligible
User:Mahan – 76 articles, all eligible
Prizes were awarded as follows: €150 for first place, €100 for second, €75 for third, and €50 each for fourth to sixth place.
Although the contest was competitive, its spirit remained deeply collaborative. Participants regularly exchanged ideas, gave feedback, and supported each other through Telegram and other community channels. The prize structure added a layer of motivation, but the shared mission—strengthening the presence of women on Persian Wikipedia—is what ultimately brought people together.
Looking Ahead: Beyond the Contest
Women in Red logo in Persian Wikipedia, by Persia
Each year, the Women in Red campaign on Persian Wikipedia has grown not just in numbers, but in purpose. The 2025 edition reaffirmed that when people are given the tools, support, and a clear goal, they will come together to write—not only articles, but history. This campaign helped surface stories that would otherwise remain buried. It also showed that Wikipedia can serve as more than a website—it can be a platform for solidarity, visibility, and social change. The high number of participants, the presence of new editors (many of them women), and the level of community engagement all pointed to the campaign’s deeper impact: building confidence, building community, and building equity.
Moving forward, we plan to continue this annual tradition and expand our efforts to include smaller local edit-a-thons, themed translation drives, and community workshops throughout the year. We hope to encourage more women to join and stay in the Wikimedia movement—not only during campaigns, but as lasting contributors to the free knowledge ecosystem.
After all, turning red links blue is not just about fixing pages—it’s about making sure women’s lives, voices, and legacies have a place in the record we all share. In this spirit, we continue to write—because as long as knowledge is power, “Woman, Life, Freedom” must echo in every language, every project, and every page.
