Maithili Wikimedians User Group/Events/International Women's Day 2025

INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN'S DAY 2025 EVENT

The Maithili Wikimedians User Group (MWUG) is excited to organize various offline events and an online edit-a-thon competition to celebrate the International Women's Day ('IWD') by engaging women students from various colleges of Rajbiraj, Nepal. IWD is an important occasion to renew our efforts to ensure representation for all people and to remind ourselves of the gender gap for women and all other underrepresented groups. The event aims to highlight the role of Wikipedia in academics and empower students, particularly women, to contribute and benefit from the (free knowledge) Wikimedia movement.

We are looking forward to bring students from Wikipedia Awareness Program Workshop. This event will motivate the women students to support our movement and work together to close the gender gap in Maithili Wikipedia.

We are looking forward to organizing a full-day event comprising the following activities:

Oratory Contest

The college students will participate in an Inter-college oratory contest on the theme Importance of Wikipedia in Academics. This will encourage them to explore and articulate how Wikipedia can be a valuable resource for their studies and research.

Play Performance

A play will be performed by volunteers of Maithili Wikimedians, showcasing the contributions and challenges of Women in Wikipedia. This performance will inspire students to recognize the importance of gender diversity in knowledge creation.

WikiWomen Meetup and Interaction Event

MWUG members will arrange and WikiWomen Meetup and interaction event with students to discuss the potential of Wikipedia in their academic lives, addressing how they can use and contribute to the platform to enhance their learning experiences & skills. We will use video calls to connect the college students with seasoned South Asian women Wikipedia users to inspire them.

Maithili Wiki Women Edit-a-thon

Wiki Women Edit-a-thon is an online Edit-a-thon competition organized on Maithili Wikipedia. The competition was organized from March 2, 2018 to March 31, 2025. The main aim of the competition is to create articles about notable women on Maithili Wikipedia as well as to address the content gaps. Maithili Wikimedians is organizing Women Edit-a-thon annually since 2015 to create locally relevant and high-quality content about notable Women's in Maithili Wikipedia.

Outcomes

The major outcomes from the event we are expecting are:

We will promote awareness about Wikipedia as a reliable academic resource.
We will encourage the college students, especially women, to participate in the Wikimedia movement.
We will foster a deeper understanding of the importance of gender equity in knowledge sharing.
We will create more women's related article on Maithili Wikipedia to address the gender gap.
We will engage existing and newbies Wikipedia contributors to Edit-a-thon competition.

What it brings us to the table

We believe that the offline events will not only celebrate International Women’s Day, but also creates a lasting impact by inspiring the next generation of Wikimedians in Rajbiraj. The group is seeking more volunteer members to boost the Wikimedia Movement. This event will definitely help us to motivate the students to turn them into Wikipedia contributors.