The Wikipedia Project "1000 Women in Religion” was launched at the 2018 Parliament of the World's Religions in Toronto, Canada, by Dr. Elizabeth Ursic who was a trustee and chair of the Women's Task Force for the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions and the Director of the Women's Caucus of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. The focus was to add one thousand women's biographies to Wikipedia to address the gender gap in online resources including, the largest encyclopedia in the world.  The contributions of women in all fields of work, scholarship and life, including religion and spirituality, have gone universally under-recognized, across time and in our present-day context.  Furthermore, this under-recognition, which is a form of gender bias, is reflected and reproduced in our commonly used sources of knowledge – in our history books, in our news media, even in our sacred texts.  In this present day and age, when these sources of knowledge are available with a simple click on our mobile devices, we are formed by these gender biases in knowledge production, 24-7.   Elizabeth Ursic, co-chair of the Women’s Caucus of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature states that “the more we can document and highlight the contributions of women leaders in their religious and spiritual traditions, the more we can change the perception that women have not been leaders”.  

 

Since its founding, the WikiProject has continually expanded, with affiliated Wikimedians working on regional projects in Australia, India, and Kenya. In addition to adding and improving content in Wikipedia, project members have contributed to Wikidata, WikiCommons, and WikiQuote. In 2022, the project's name was changed to Women in Religion to reflect this broader range of activity.

 

To join us or for more information please go to Women in Religion Wikipedia Project 

 

The Women in Religion Wikipedia Project also publishes open access volumes of collected essays of women’s biographies in religion. We invite scholars, writers and students seeking publications to join us in writing biographies. These publications are also great classroom resources.  

 

We have three collections to date:

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Volume 1 of Women in Religion

Claiming Notability for Women Activists in Religion

Colleen D. Hartung (ed)

October 23, 2020

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Volume 2 of Women in Religion

Challenging Bias against Women Academics in Religion

October 25, 2021

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Volume 3 of Women in Religion

Women advancing Knowledge Equity:  The Parliament of the World’s Religions 

© 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions

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