Sexism in science and on Wikipedia

An article on the digital news site Quartz discusses how Wikipedia rejects biography profiles on women much more frequently than men because they do not meet the qualifications to have a page. The article uses the example of how a page for Donna Strickland was rejected in May,

and she just won the Nobel Prize for Physics this week. Her male colleague, Gérard Mourou, who she shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with meanwhile was able to already have a Wikipedia page despite sharing the same qualifications as Strickland. The article also points out that only 17 percent of the biographies on Wikipedia are of women and women scientists are much less likely to get quoted. As the article states these types of barriers placed on women by prominent sites leads to the underrepresentation of women in the media and throughout society. The fact that Wikipedia, one of the most widely used sites to get information, has a problem with women’s representation shows that sexism is also a problem on online platforms and websites. There needs to be more women’s voices and achievements represented in the media and on websites like Wikipedia.