AMMAN — More than 100
Jordanian women signed up to participate in a Wikipedia edit-a-thon that aims
to increase women's online presence and participation in editing woman-centered
articles on the user-generated encyclopedia, according to the Jordan News
Agency, Petra.
اضافة اعلان
The WikiGap initiative, started by
Sweden five years ago, brings together a group of volunteers to write articles
on Wikipedia that specifically highlight prominent and influential women as the
world celebrates Women's History Month this March.
"Equal opportunity has not been
achieved yet, especially not on the Internet," said Sweden's Ambassador to
Jordan Alexandra Rydmark on Sunday.
"Throughout history, there has
not been any written record about women who have made great contributions to
the world, and I am very proud that we are now taking concrete actions to
change that," she added.
Mary Kawar, former minister and
participant in the initiative, called for furthering gender equality efforts to
enable women to have the same opportunities and resources as their male
counterparts.
Canadian Ambassador Donica Pottie said
that the WikiGap has, so far, resulted in the editing of more than 50,000
articles, which scored more than 100 million views, making women's achievements
more visible on the Internet.
"We hope that this (initiative)
inspires more young women to pursue their dreams by making women's achievements
more visible online," she said, adding that Canada is proud to partner
with Sweden, the United Nations Women and Jordanian organizations for this important
initiative.
"The gender gap in the digital
space is very wide," said Aisha Mukhtar, the United Nations Women Deputy
Representative.
"By strengthening women's
representation via the Internet, WikiGap ensures that women's voices and their
history are documented and celebrated," Mukhtar said, adding “as women's
contributions are being highlighted on Wikipedia, we are now one step closer to
creating a gender-equal internet.”
Partners involved in the initiative
are the embassies of Sweden and Canada, UN Women in Jordan, HeForShe Arabia
movement, Wikipedia of the Arab Mashreq, Jordan Open Source Association,
Khawarizmi Technical College, and the American Center of Research.
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