Women's Participation in Wikipedia: Cross-Border Balkan Perspective

Abstract

Since Wikipedia is a turning point in the way we share and read information in the 21st century, the participation of different demographic groups in this process is of great importance. In this paper, we will address the issues of greater representation of women who edit Wikipedia and more content related to women. The presented conceptual framework is part of an effort to improve the position of women on Wikipedia in Serbian, Macedonian, Croatian and Bosnian, respectively. The paper will present projects that are being implemented for this purpose in Serbia and the region, as well as the results of a recent survey. Quantitative questionnaire method and qualitative focus group method were used for data collection. The aim of this paper is to develop solutions to improve the gender balance on Wikipedia, to create opportunities for overcoming gender differences on Wikipedia and their negative effects on free knowledge democracy.