We often talk about the gender gap’s impact on Wikipedia content. Compared to articles on men, articles about women are often shorter and less developed. And that’s only looking at the articles that exist.
Here’s a great illustration of student editors narrowing this gender content gap. Janna Bianchini’s Women in Medieval Culture and Society course at the University of Maryland explores the historical roles of medieval women.
Students in the course expanded the women in the Middle Ages article. They added sections on marriage, remarriage, and widows. There’s also extensive coverage of peasanthood, gendered labor and land ownership, and health concerns.
Students created some great new articles, too.
- Marital debt describes medieval laws on men and women’s conjugal commitments in marriage.
- Medieval singlewomen reviews the options available to unmarried women of the era.
- Medieval women mysticism shares information about women mystics, including several short biographies.
Contributions like these help Wikipedia provide a more well-rounded view of human history. Thanks to these student editors for their excellent work!
Photo: “Joan of arc miniature graded” by Derived from original commons upload at which is now in the history version: 01:39, 13. 8. 2005Colour-graded to reveal more detail using GIMP software “curves” tool. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
