Grants:Project/MSIG/Assessing the Women's Movement Experience on the Lusophone Wikimedia/Complete report

Introduction

Objective

The research assessed Portuguese-speaking women editors' diverse experiences within the Wikimedia Movement. The objective was to better understand their individual and collective motivations, challenges and aspirations, by investigating and recognizing their experiences. The assessment aimed to provide indicators for strategic planning towards the "Global Approach for Local Skill Development". In accordance with the 2030 Movement Strategy, the research guided a Draft Implementation Plan.

Methodology

Women editors are plural. For instance, some women edit collectively and are part of women's user groups, while others edit individually and independently. The research focused directly on Wikiwomen's experiences. Indirectly, it examined women editors' narratives. Additionally, it considered the voluntary participation of allied editors as a control group. Ancillary, the study examined active women's accounts on Portuguese Wikipedia. See the glossary below for definitions of the previous terms.

Glossary

Wikiwomen: Wikimedians identified as women, organized into informal groups or affiliates, who answered the survey, took part in an interview, and/or joined a focal group; Women editors: Wikipedians identified as women acting solely as independent contributors who answered the survey; Allied editors: Male Wikimedians who answered the survey; Active user accounts: wikimedia users identified as women, crawled by Query search of pt.wikipedia accounts.

A variety of methodological approaches and data collection stages were adopted to assess diverse strata of experiences. Research instruments included survey, interview, and focus groups with participants, as well as the observation of female user accounts statistics, and peer review by a council of experienced Wikimedians.

A total of 25 Wikiwomen, 22 women editors, and 14 allied editors participated directly. Furthermore, we crawled data from 159 female user accounts. Outreach activities were conducted both on-wiki (the Wikipedia Village Pump and the User Talk Page) and off-wiki (the established Wikimedian community channels). The work took place between December 2022 and June 2023. The data collection spread from February to May 2023, focusing on user accounts and/or Wikimedians active between early 2020 and mid-2023.

The participation panorama presented here is not representative of the entire Lusophone sector of the Wikimedia Movement. In spite of this, the research findings provide substantial insight into everyday situations experienced by women who work as movement organizers as well as those who edit Wikipedia. The findings also cast light on often invisibilized agencies, those of Portuguese-speaking Wikiwomen: a group still locally and globally underrepresented among Wikimedia contributors.

Activities

In order to assess different levels of experience, activities were conducted in different phases and methods. An evaluation of the research proposal's objectives in comparison with its results is presented below.

Phase	Objective	Results
Interview, survey, and data analysis	A primary research involving 10 to 30 Wikiwomen, with 50% participating in interviews.	The primary research involved 18 participants, of whom 44% were interviewed.
	Involvement of independent women editors in secondary research.	25 independent women editors participated in the secondary research.
	On-wiki data collection and analysis.	Analysis of 100 active user accounts on Lusophone Wikipedia.
Building consensus on the collective experience	Coordination of two online meetings for the purpose of discussing and validating preliminary research findings.	With a total of 10 participants, two focus groups were conducted to discuss the findings. The findings were reviewed and validated by 9 research curators.
Data analysis and implementation plan	Among the responsibilities of the researcher were creating the forms, conducting the interviews, organizing meetings, analyzing the data, and writing, revising, and translating the report. Allow participants to revise research findings.	The researcher performed all the intended tasks. By participating in a focus group, research curation, and/or presentation of findings, participants reviewed research findings.
Recognition of participation	In recognition of their participation in the research, participants would be offered gifts related to gender gap work, food vouchers and compensation for their participation in the research.	A total of two dozen gift kits and food vouchers were distributed to participants. 6 people were compensated for participating in the research curation.

Questions

A series of questions guided the project:

1. What are the experiences of Lusophone Wikimedia’s women contributors?
   1. What are the differences and similarities in terms of identity and background?
   2. How do other systemic gaps interrelate with gender in this context?
2. What are the challenges and aspirations for building an organic movement of Lusophone women in Wikimedia?
   1. What are the main organizational challenges?
   2. What do we collectively envision for the future?
3. What is accurate (and what is not) to represent a consensus?
   1. What people and experiences are still missing or underrepresented in our movement?
4. What can the global Wikimedia movement learn from Lusophone women's experiences? Correlatedly, what can the local movement learn from global women's experience?
5. What are the possible comparisons or intersections between such experiences and other human experiences, such as black people and people of color, LGBTQIAP+, neuro and able diverse people?
6. What are the main needs of the group for the coming year and what resources do we currently have to address them?
   1. What kind of activities can be implemented in the coming year to mitigate the most latent challenges and achieve collective skill development (implementation plan)?
   2. What kind of external support does our group need to achieve this (funding, mentoring, peer learning)?
   3. What kind of efforts do we need to reach out to Lusophone women outside the Brazil-Portugal axis, and to better welcome other human experiences that are still absent or underrepresented in our movement?
   4. How can we reach out to other communities and contribute to the collective consensus on the Gender Gap, as well as to the global conversation regarding the 2030 Strategy (cross-lingual meetings, affiliate outreach, publication sharing)?

The Summary of Findings and the Draft Implementation Plan present the answers.

Main Findings

Hypotheses about the Gender Gap

We asked all survey participants to elaborate on hypotheses as to why women and gender dissidents tend to participate in Wikimedia projects at a lesser rate than men. In contrast to Wikiwomen and women editors, who formulated long and multifactorial responses, only one third of allied editors responded. It is noteworthy that only the male participants who claimed to have been victims of hostilities (gender unrelated) answered this question. The silence of the other two thirds suggests thematic non-applicability.

General perceptions identified both external and internal challenges to women and gender dissidents' equitable participation in the Wikimedia Movement and platforms. A significant proportion of responses pointed to gender inequality as the main cause of the many barriers to such participation. Inequity was often perceived as a broad and external socio-historical phenomenon. However, there was a common understanding of the accentuation of such inequality on Wikimedia projects.

Highlights:

• Wikiwomen articulated the political sphere more explicitly in their answers, relating it to feminist struggles. They demonstrated an in-depth understanding of the global debate about the gender gap on Wikimedia, emphasizing the double-sided nature of content and participation gaps. Additionally, the topic of gatekeeping within Wikipedia's micro-political structure was discussed.
• Women editors presented a more general understanding of gender inequality on-wiki reproduction, with an emphasis on Wikipedia's content gap. A minority of respondents acknowledged not knowing how to answer or provided individual reasons.
• Allied editors identified hostility, competitiveness, and male hegemony as contributing factors to the underrepresentation of women and gender dissidents.

In regard to the Lusophone Wikipedia, participants identified generalized hostility and/or lack of community support as major obstacles to the participation of women and gender-dissidents. These issues are seen as directly related to male hegemony, which is perceived as unwelcoming to otherness.

Other commonly cited reasons are the lack of time, lack of technical knowledge, and lack of adherence to male-dominated protocols, all of which are attributed to women's experience. It is common knowledge that Wikipedian community dynamics tend to favor people with large free time availability and extensive technical knowledge. Women generally have limited access to these perks. Aside from that, they tend not to adhere to the widespread communication style, which is usually perceived as hostile.

Interestingly, very few responses referred to non-gender-related factors for participation disparity, such as individual lack of accessibility, dedication, or commitment.

Reports of negative experiences

A series of questions asked in the survey was intended to determine whether participants had experienced on-wiki hostility, systematic bullying, violence, or off-wiki negative social experiences within the context of gender inequality. For a definition of these terms, please refer to the following glossary.

We cannot consider the following statistics representative of the entire Lusophone Wikimedian community. Extensive research into hostility and other types of violence in this context is yet to be done. Nevertheless, the highlights provide information about everyday situations experienced by women who are either organizers or independent editors.

Glossary

On-wiki: Within Wikimedia projects. Off-wiki: In events, communication channels, and contexts of wikimedian organization (online or offline), but outside wiki projects. Hostility: Intentional, often implicit, psychological violence or aggression, rivalry or belittlement, resulting in an unfriendly, disrespectful, or unfair attitude. Systematic bullying: Repetitive intentional psychological violence or intimidation (implicit or explicit) resulting in recurrent, prolonged hostile behavior. Violence: The intentional and explicit use of oppressive force through threat, exposure, oppression, coercion, or abuse. Negative social experiences: Any type of discomfort, harassment, intimidation, or aggression.

General statistics:

• A total of 92% of the respondents answered affirmatively or negatively to the series of questions on hostility and violence, while only 8% were unable to answer:
  • A majority of respondents (61%) indicated that they had never experienced hostility, systematic bullying, violence, or any negative social experiences on- or off-Wiki;
  • A third (31%) of the participants reported experiencing at least one of these issues;
  • The rate of people unable to answer was higher among women editors.
• The affirmative response rate did not differ significantly between Wikiwomen, women editors, and allied editors, however:
  • A third (36%) of allied editors and women editors reported experiencing hostility on-wiki. The figure is lower for Wikiwomen (22%);
  • Around 20% of allied editors and Wikiwomen reported experiencing systematic bullying or violence on-wiki.
  • 61% of Wikiwomen reported negative social experiences off-wiki.
• Perceptions of the likelihood that the negative experiences in question might have been motivated by the victim’s gender identity:
  • Among Wikiwomen, the perception ranged most significantly between "Yes" (52%), "Probably Yes" (14%), and "Maybe" (29%);
  • Among women editors, "Maybe" (44%) was the most cited perception, while the other responses were divided into the "Yes" and "No" ranges.
  • Among allied editors, the majority (82%) stated "No", indicating that there was no correlation between reported hostilities and their identity as males.

Highlights:

• Wikiwomen identified various forms of hostility they face daily, reporting more negative experiences in Wikimedian communication and organization spaces.
  • Due to their participation in periodic and collective discussions about on-wiki hostilities and barriers, particularly on Wikipedia, it is possible that this group focused more on the meta-wikimedian sphere when responding to the survey. Reflections arising from interviews and focus groups support this hypothesis.
• Women editors reported experiencing hostility, harassment, and/or unjustified punishments on the Portuguese Wikipedia. This included aggressiveness on Talk Pages, edit monitoring, and deletion of User Pages.
  • They reported more frequently the devaluation of their edits (through reverts) and arbitrary behavior (article deletion proposals).
  • There was a lesser mention of threats of expulsion and sanctions, including blocking and removing access levels.  
  • Occasional mentions of negative social experiences inform about xenophobia and harassment.
• Women editors perceived a more frequent recurrence of proposals for deletion of articles written by or about women on Portuguese Wikipedia.
  • According to their experience, gender-related articles are more likely to be proposed for deletion without due diligence and prior discussion of the topic's notoriety.
• Women editors interpreted their negative social experiences differently. There were those who claimed to have suffered gender bias. In addition, there were those who thought that gender inequality did not influence such aggressiveness, perceived as part of the widespread Wikipedian communication style.
• Allied editors  reported suffering hostility and violence in a general sense on Portuguese Wikipedia: harassment, doxxing, and aggressiveness on Talk Pages.
  • Some pointed out that these issues result from ideological faction micropower struggles within the Wikipedian community.
  • Others reported witnessing harassment addressed to third-parties, specifically three experienced women editors of Portuguese Wikipedia.

Reports on social inequality

Our survey also evaluated whether any other forms of social inequality (not related to gender) affected the participant's user experience within Wikimedia, including: Sexuality, Race/Ethnicity, Neurodiversity, Geographic Diversity, and Linguistic Diversity.

It is imperative to note that the following highlights relate to the research participants' profile composition. The proportions cannot be considered a representative sample of Wikimedia Portuguese-speaking contributors. In spite of this, the narrated experiences indicate the presence of social tension, particularly on Portuguese Wikipedia.

Highlights:

• Participants reported the following experiences:
  • Most notably, linguistic and geographical inequality, particularly in relation to cultural differences between Brazil and Portugal;
  • Secondly, in terms of sexuality, followed by neurodiversity and class prejudice;
  • To a lesser extent, race/ethnicity and functional diversity.
• Allied editors reported experiencing social inequalities (50%) the most, followed by Wikiwomen (44%). Only 22.7% of women editors reported a similar experience. Taking a closer look at the reports, we assessed the indications and perceptions of:
  • Conflicts between Brazilian and Portuguese cultures, especially regarding linguistic variation and emigration. Both Brazilian and Portuguese people reported cultural restrictions;
  • Barriers to peripheral people's participation, in relation to both Europe and large urban centers.
  • Hostile environment to neurodiversity, functional diversity, and unprivileged status in terms of social class.

Women’s Wiki Trajectory

The survey allowed Wikiwomen and women editors to share their personal journey through Wikimedia. Participants could indicate key points and a brief summary of their trajectory by answering the following three questions: "What led you to start editing?", "What makes you keep editing?" and "What is the biggest challenge to continuing editing?".

What led you to start editing?

Based on the provided answers, it was possible to identify the main motivations behind the creation of user accounts and/or joining the Wikimedia movement among the surveyed groups. We developed a practical glossary as a result.

Glossary

Voluntary interest: Observing the possibility of contributing and proactively getting to know and starting to work on Wikimedia projects as a volunteer. Professional interest: Observing the potential for contributions and proactively coordinating professional and Wikimedian activities. Wikimedian action: Participating in an editathon (feminist editing event) or workshop (educational event or programme) organized by a Wikimedian user group. Professional association: Being employed by or associated with a professional team, as well as becoming a fellow in a programme organized by a Wikimedian user group or part of a Wikimedia Foundation team.

Highlights:

According to the results of the survey, motivations differed between the two groups:

• Most women editors began contributing, specifically to the Portuguese Wikipedia, as a voluntary effort to improve and/or increase the available content.
• A minority of women editors joined the Wikimedia movement due to professional interest or Edit-a-thons organized by feminist groups.
• Most Wikiwomen started their contributions to Wikimedia projects and movements through participation in events organized by Wikimedia user groups. These events include feminist Edit-a-thons and education programmes.
• A small portion of Wikiwomen joined the Wikimedia Movement because of a professional interest or association, usually related to university programs or GLAM initiatives.

What makes you continue editing?

In response to the question of why they edit, Wikiwomen and women editors provided four main reasons:  

• Activism
• Altruism
• Curiosity
• Wiki-addiction

Highlights:

• Wikiwomen are more likely to continue editing altruistically. This is the belief in Wikimedia's potential to contribute to social transformation by providing access to open, free, reliable, and equitable knowledge on the internet. In this context, activism includes gender equality and open science.
• Women editors are more likely to keep editing due to altruism. This is the desire to contribute towards Wikimedia’s ideals by helping to enlarge access to open, free, reliable, and equitable knowledge on the internet. This perspective also includes individual pleasure.
• Both Wikiwomen and women editors cited curiosity as one significant drive to continue editing. This also relates to the desire to improve personal skills towards a solidarity goal.
• Likewise, a few Wikiwomen and women editors cited the gamification of Wikipedia contributions (Wiki-Addiction) as something that also keeps them editing. This also relates to an inclusionist perspective, e.g., defending Wikipedia's content maintenance.
• Women editors mentioned the desire to use their free time efficiently.

What is the biggest challenge to continuing editing?

According to Wikiwomen and women editors, the difficulties associated with balancing volunteer and professional activities, as well as the work on Portuguese Wikipedia, keep them from continuing to edit.

Highlights:  

• Both Wikiwomen and women editors mentioned lack of free time as a major barrier to continuing their work on Wikimedia. This reason was more latent for Wikiwomen than in comparison to women editors.
  • As unpaid work, contributing to Wikimedia sometimes cannot be considered a priority;
  • This reason was also associated with tiredness due to the overload of other professional, educational, and domestic activities.
  • Another related point was the lack of spare time to master the implicit dynamics of Wikimedia’s projects.
• Likewise, both Wikiwomen and women editors pointed to Portuguese Wikipedia’s often hostile and stressful environment as the biggest challenge to keep contributing to Wikimedia projects. This point was most mentioned by women editors, who are more active on Wikipedia.
  • One popular point was power disputes over content maintenance, explicit on common invalidation of sources as reliable; and the different interpretations of the notability criteria that generate disagreements;
  • Related to the previous point, the constant need to get into debate and discussion (which often become arguments) is a cause of discomfort;
  • There were also mentions of cases of dispute between Portuguese and Brazilian cultures;
• Some women editors also emphasized some points specific to Wikipedia contributions:
  • Lack of computer access;
  • Lack of technical knowledge;
  • Lone editing, i.e., lack of on-wiki friendships;
  • Trouble finding accurate information and checking sources; and maintaining rigor and impartiality while writing;
• Wikiwomen also mentioned the lack of institutional collaboration and recognition from Universities towards Wikimedian activities. This was specifically within the context of associated Wikimedian and educational professional practices.

Account Creation Timeframe

Members from the surveyed groups have been contributing to Wikimedia for different time periods. In terms of user account creation, there is a diverse chronological pattern:

• Wikiwomen are relatively new contributors. Their accounts were created from 2014 onwards, with higher occurrences in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
• Women editors, in general, have edited for longer time. Their accounts were created between 2007 and 2021, with a higher occurrence in 2015.

In the analysis we summarized and compared data regarding Wikiwomen and women editors with that of active women editors.

• Active women editors: User accounts active on Portuguese Wikipedia between 2020 and 2022 and registered in the domain "Usuária", i.e., self-identified as woman (plus the participants in the present research). It includes more than one hundred accounts crawled by Query search (later manually sorted), as well as all surveyed Wikiwomen's and women editors' accounts. The sorting excluded blocked accounts and those with less than 10 edits.

Wikiwomen Account Creation

Women Editors Account Creation

Active Female Users Account Creation

Highlights:

• The majority of the women surveyed, both active on the Portuguese Wikipedia and serving as Wikimedia movement organizers, became editors after mid-2010, with an increase in occurrence following 2014.
  • This phenomenon may have been affected by the Wikimedia Gender Gap discussions, which started in this same timeframe. Further research can shed light on this question.
  • Furthermore, the organization of Lusophone user groups coincides with this period. This phenomenon is likely a result of the user groups' organization of events and programs to attract new contributors to Wikimedia, particularly those focusing on the gender gap.  
• The surveyed groups' account creation was slightly higher between 2020 and 2022.
  • Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the 20th Anniversary of Wikipedia most likely created momentum and opportunity for new contributors to join Wikimedia in this period.

Domain Female User (Usuária)

A very critical issue emerged throughout the research process: the definition or undefinition of grammatical gender in user account preferences. Media-wiki software refers to users by their preferred gender: self-assigned male users will be referred to as "He"; female users, as "She"; and undefined users, as "They". This feature was implemented in 2011 due to the demand of gendered language Wikimedia users. As Portuguese is a gendered language, the preferences reflect three domain possibilities for the User Page, according to the gender indicated: "Usuário" for male, "Usuária" for female, and "Usuário(a), for undefined gender. All accounts are assigned an undefined gender by default. There is no active option for non-binary individuals, which is problematic.

One significant finding of this study was that most participants were unaware of the possibility of defining grammatical gender in their account preferences.

Following this path, we investigated the proportion of gender definitions in all Portuguese Wikipedia user accounts. We found that 89% of accounts did not set gender preferences. This means that most accounts are automatically assigned to "undefined gender", i.e. "Usuário(a)". This data is of particular importance because it explains one reason why it was challenging to track female users, i.e., women editors on-wiki. This barrier emerged when attempting to engage editors to take part in the research.

Deepening the investigation, we found that the more experience a Portuguese-speaking Wikipedian has, the more likely they are to specify their gender as male or female in the user account settings. This is evident when we divide the accounts into strata according to their degree of activity: very active, active or little active. As the following graph shows:

Gender definition on pt.wikipedia

Data from account statistics in-between 6 February and 8 March 2023. Level of activity according to average rate of editions per day: Little active: Less than 1 | Active: Between 1 an 9.99 | Super active: More than 10

It is relevant to discuss the domain of female users because it sheds light on how women editors can (or cannot)identify themselves as women on Portuguese Wikipedia. Troubles around gender nomenclature and the possibility of setting a preference reflect the challenges of researching the Wikimedia gender gap. We hope our present findings will guide future research on this subject. This in turn will help improve our understanding of women's experiences as Wikimedians.

Summary of Findings

The answers to questions 1 to 5 (presented in the introduction) are summarised below.

1. Lusophone women's contributions to Wikimedia are diverse. The research assessed the collective experience of two different groups. On the one hand, Wikiwomen (Wikimedians identified as women, organized in informal groups or affiliates), who lead different professional activities within or related to the Wikimedia movement. On the other hand, women editors (independent Wikipedians identified as women), who solely edit the Portuguese Wikipedia. The research participants were active between December 2022 and June 2023 and willingly participated in the study.
   1. Background differences and similarities exist between these groups.
      1. Wikiwomen and women editors differ primarily in their willingness (or unwillingness) to participate in user groups and in the organization of the Wikimedia Movement as a whole. Second, while most women editors started contributing to pt.wikipedia out of a voluntary interest in content improvement and inclusion; most Wikiwomen joined the movement after participating in Wikimedian events (e.g., edit-a-thons and educational programmes) and also contribute to other wiki projects. Although still content-focused, Wikiwomen’s actions tend to be more organizational, especially in helping new contributors join Wikimedia. Finally, these groups experience leisure time differently. While women editors tend to contribute to Wikipedia during their spare time, Wikiwomen reported lacking free time to do so. This is due to the overload of Wikimedian, professional, educational, and domestic activities.
      2. As for the similarity, women editors and Wikiwomen contribute to Wikimedia mainly for the same reason: they are committed to expanding access to open, free, reliable, and equitable knowledge on the Internet. While women editors are more prone to altruism, Wikiwomen tend to activism, which relates to the distinct focus just mentioned (content inclusion vs. contributor inclusion). Moreover, curiosity (the desire to learn new skills and information) and wiki-addiction (gamification of wiki editions) are key motivators for both groups' contributions continuity.
      3. In terms of identity, the research was inconclusive as participation could not be considered a generally representative sample. This could be explored in more depth in the future.
   2. In this context, intersectionality links gender with other systemic content and participation gaps. The intersectional perspective is a key component of the Lusophone Wikiwomen's movement, which encompasses aspects of human diversity, other than gender. This includes sexuality, race/ethnicity, geography/culture, but neuro and able diversity as well. In such a perspective, gender is not a single axis, but rather a combination of different intersecting identities and experiences. By taking an intersectional approach, the movement seeks to create safe and brave spaces not exclusively for women, but also inclusive of dissident experiences.
2. We assessed the following challenges and aspirations for building an organic movement of Lusophone women in Wikimedia.
   1. Main organizational challenges:
      1. It is difficult to assess the number of women editors within Wikimedia projects, given the high rate of user accounts’ gender undefinition;
      2. Quantitative metrics commonly used to measure Wikimedian activities do not accommodate qualitative results of gender-specific initiatives;
      3. Organizational work is not perceived as vital as editing;
      4. The overlapping of activities promoted by different Lusophone user groups results in duplication of efforts and loss of organizational energy;
      5. The treatment of gender gap initiatives as a secondary, niched agenda - as a specific cause to be addressed only during specific events;
      6. Professionalization within the Wikimedia Movement is often the only alternative for women to contribute. Once professionalized, they face a work overload and a decreased possibility to act as volunteers;
      7. Burnout is a structural issue that affects women the most and results from hierarchization and lack of boundaries between voluntary and professional work;
   2. Lusophone Wikiwomen collectively envision:
      1. Safe, brave spaces where anyone, anywhere can contribute to Wikimedia without fear of identity expression;
      2. Use of tailored, qualitative metrics for non-hegemonic content and participation, taking into account impact variables such as curatorship and representation;
      3. Acknowledgement of organizational work’s importance, as the reproductive aspect of content production;
      4. Synergy of activities promoted by different groups, resulting in coordination of efforts and multiplication of organizational energy;
      5. Comprehension of knowledge equity as central goal of the Wikimedia Movement, including equitable representation of gender-related content, and women’s and gender-dissidents’ participation;
      6. Increase access to Wikimedia voluntary contributions via affirmative actions such as quota systems, specific training, meal allowances, child care assistance, etc. Furthermore, access includes comfortable permanence, belonging.
      7. De-hierarchization of voluntary and professional work; protocols to deal with burnout as a structural issue.
3. Wikiwomen’s vision is not universal. First we acknowledge the cultural differences between us and other movements, but also among ourselves. Second, we acknowledge that there are women editors who do not wish to be part of a collective movement or address the gender gap at all. In terms of "consensus", the research considered Lusophone Wikiwomen's narratives, perspectives, and curatorship. The research focused on them, particularly members of the user groups WikiMulheres+ and Wiki Editoras Lx who participated in the survey, interviews, focal groups, and/or curator team. Therefore, the consensus presented throughout this report is situated (see Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective, by Donna Haraway). As a result of Wikiwomen participating in this research, a consensus was established regarding the importance of intersectional, gender-focused actions to reverse the underrepresentation of women and other marginalized groups in both wikimedia content and participation. Dissensus emerged specifically on how deep human differences and gender violence should be highlighted in lieu of equality and transformative action. Possibly, due to divergent opinions regarding the degree of explicitness of feminist/queer/anti-racist theory and practice within Wikimedia projects.
   1. Indigenous-, Afro-American-, and African-centered experiences are still underrepresented in our movement. The majority of Wikiwomen researched are either from Brazil or Portugal. They are also mostly white, despite considerable race/ethnic diversity (and sexuality). Nonetheless, there is a strong collective perspective of reaching out to these absent experiences, if not immediately by welcoming new contributors, but through the sequential inclusion of content situated in still absent and marginalized experiences (e.g. Black Feminist Theory, Lusophone African characters, Indigenous Women’s History, etc.). Such inclusion does aim to secure marginalized agency in the process.
4. The Lusophone women’s organized movement is essentially transnational and politically intersectional. This means that their organization is based in-between continents, connecting North and Global South local contexts; furthermore, that their actions are guided by an intersectional, decolonial, feminist perspective, in which the struggle for gender equality interrelates to other political agendas, such as racial and sexual equality, as well as neuro and ability diversity. The concept of decolonization also plays a large role in community discussions and actions. In light of this, the global Wikimedia movement can learn transnationality, intersectionality, and decoloniality practices from these situated experiences. Also, this glocal movement of Lusophone women may also benefit from the organizational experience of the global Wikiwomen movement; for they have been running affiliated user groups and sustained campaigns since early 2010.    
5. The intersection between women’s experience and those of other minorities (such as black people and people of color, LGBTQIAP+, neuro and able diverse people) can be found on the existing barriers to the presence of their identity within Wikimedia projects and movement. Therefore, creating a safe space for women from a intersectional perspective potentially helps creating a safe space for human diversity as a whole.

The answers to question 6 outline the draft implementation plan, presented below.

Draft Implementation Plan

This draft implementation plan focuses on the strategic direction of Global approach to local skills development (#32), in the Wikimedia Movement's Strategy 2030.

The main need of the Lusophone Wikiwomen movement for the coming year (2024) is to establish a mid-term strategic plan aiming at: Organizational knowledge and capacity gain; Development of resources, channels, and spaces for Wikiwomen peer support and learning; Coordination with the broader Lusophone and global Wikimedia Movement.

The following activities can be implemented in the coming year to mitigate the most latent challenges and achieve collective skill development:

1. Study and implementation of organizational processes such as planning and documentation (Roles & Responsibilities, Activity Calendar); movement sustainability (leadership training and support, voluntary support and retention); external communication  
2. Development of a framework aimed at supporting Wikiwomen’s agency on-wiki. Such a framework should include guidelines, protocols, and resources for Lusophone people's work inside wikimedia projects. This is specifically from a gendered, non-hegemonic perspective. Its development should follow Wikiwomen's established collective work practice, as well as the calendar and prioritization they decide on. The guidelines should be grounded on the systematization of intellectual and practical knowledge regarding women’s situated perspectives on their Wikimedian agency. The protocols should comprise a set of effective, helpful practices when addressing the gender gap on Wikimedia projects. All of this can be backed up by resources generated from the Wikiwomen movement’s collective experience - given that such an experience was partially assessed by the present research. The envisioned resources should also point to channels and spaces where newcomers can get peer support, training, and/or mentoring.
3. Coordination of the perspectives, goals, and needs of the user groups, teams, and initiatives Wikiwomen are part of. The movement should avoid activity overlap and overload, to ensure emphatic, coordinated actions. This direction is imperative not only to prevent members from burnout, but to enable more successful activities. The achievement of this goal requires strong alignment of all Lusophone groups committed to bridge-working the gender gap. In order to ensure a global approach to local skill development, good coordination within the Lusophony is essential.

To achieve all of this, the external support our organization needs most is funding. But, in advance, it is essential to make a collective decision on which framework will be employed: The multiple user groups' coordination of the work; the way they organize internally, whether on a voluntary basis or through a professional working group; the ways in which they can build articulation between themselves. Such a decision and articulation will inform which kind of funding we need to implement our strategic plan. Moreover, peer learning with other women's groups, gender initiatives, and general user groups - on a global level - is also of paramount importance to organizational development.

To reach out to Lusophone women outside the Brazil-Portugal axis we need to enlarge our social network and communication channels via an intersectional feminist perspective (intrinsically anti-racist and queer positive). In Lusophone women’s experience, connections with social movements from different countries provide the essential first contact to develop mutual support. Normally, through individual agents, groups can connect to other contexts and then assess the most appropriate outreach approach. Such efforts are often intentional, open, and solidary; rejecting vertical knowledge transference while developing horizontal peer exchange. For that, safe, brave spaces are needed to better welcome other human experiences still underrepresented in our movement. In the Lusophony, such experiences have led to fruitful connections. The greatest example is the group Wiki Luanda, which emerged with the support of Wiki Editoras Lx (Portugal) and the Black Lunch Table (EUA) (see Bantumen).

The outcomes of the presented research, added-up to the record Lusophone women’s collective actions and experience, can be shared globally as a representative perspective. Although localized (meaning, situated), it is critical not to render such a perspective as "local". As argued in this report, the Lusophone community is transnational, spreading across different continents, countries, and cultures. Our hope is that the findings presented here can resonate, collaborate and, ultimately, de-center the global collective consensus on the Gender Gap from the Anglophony and the Global North. We aim to bring decolonization, gender-dissent, and race awareness to gender talk within the Wikimedia Movement.

In addition, the future implementation of a strategic plan for the Lusophone wiki-women's movement will result in coordinated actions to combat the gender gap in the Lusophone wikimedia context. This will be done in connection with the global movement and initiatives in other languages, regions and cultures. The results from this implementation are in line with the ideal of knowledge equity in the Wikimedia Movement's Strategy 2030, as well as with the direction #32.

Finally, to measure and evaluate the activities to be implemented, both quantitative and qualitative parameters must be curated within the strategic planning process. These parameters must be compatible with the meta-organisational perspective, which values the reproductive (and not just productive, quantitative) work of the women's movement. The future development of similar research, such as that carried out by this project, can also indicate the progress that the Portuguese-speaking women's movement has made as a result of this planning.