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Activists Add Female Heroines to Wikipedia in Macedonian

Categories: Eastern & Central Europe, North Macedonia, Arts & Culture, Citizen Media, Digital Activism, Good News, History, Human Rights, Literature, Media & Journalism, Women & Gender

The informal citizens’ group “Fight Like a Woman”, (@borisezenski [1]), organized a mini marathon with the purpose of adding articles about notable women from Macedonia to Wikipedia in Macedonian to raise awareness about women's rights and gender equality.

The campaign involved activists working [2] within the site of International Women's Day [3] celebrations titled “Firstborn, and a girl” [4] [mk] (wordplay on a popular Balkan saying expounding the importance of firstborn male children, usually expressed as “Firstborn, and a boy!”), and from home, coordinated using the hashtags #ЖенскаАрхива [5] (Female Archive) and #WikiFem [6].

A Facebook photo of the initial Female Archive team, whose description displays links to the new articles, garnered hundreds of likes/shares.

A Facebook photo [7] of the basic Female Archive team, whose description displays links to the new articles, garnered hundreds of likes/shares.

The activists who were, as they put it, “defying oblivion”, managed to create 40 articles during the short campaign, with short biographies of important women, from early 20th century feminists [8] and human rights activists [9] to World War 2 freedom fighters [10], contemporary academics [11] and artists [12].