I have not always been a feminist.

In fact, I would scoff at men that called themselves feminists. “It’s not a crime to be a man,” I would say, or, “It’s just a form of sexism against men.”

But over the last few years, my way of seeing the world has changed. I have come to better understand the complexities of gender inequality and male privilege; the result of women that I know and love sharing their stories and perspectives with me.

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Imagine working for 40 years to become an accomplished professor and author in your field. Then, not only are you hardly recognized for your work but your husband (and even your house) receives accolades. When you are eventually recognized, your accomplishments take a backseat, and you become known foremost as,

‘The wife of an accomplished man.’

This was one story that I heard this past weekend that made me feel particularly outraged. Unfortunately, it’s not that uncommon. Women are the subject of less than 30% of biographies on Wikipedia and entries on women are more likely to focus on romantic relationships and family roles. This article, “Why Wikipedia often overlooks stories of women in history” discusses the complexities of this systemic bias and leads to an excellent opportunity to change the narrative.

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Libraries hosted their 3rd annual Women on Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Ahead of time, the librarians identified Wikipedia entries that needed editing and prepared updated content and resources for participants to add. Volunteers trained participants on the basics of becoming an editor on Wikipedia and then the race was on.

While it may sound intimidating to edit Wikipedia, a little tech-savviness goes a long way. At this event last year, I added book references to entries as ‘Further Reading’ resources. I haven’t edited since then, and this year I created a new page!

With help from the New York Chiropractic College (NYCC) Library, we identified a woman that needed a Wikipedia page, Mabel Heath Palmer. She was referenced on the page, ‘List of people in chiropractic’ but her name linked to the Wikipedia page for her husband, B.J. Palmer. And not only that, the house that they lived in had its own page and an extensive entry.

I was honored to learn about this woman and her contributions to our world as a chiropractor, an anatomist, and an author. And it feels good to have a small part in sharing her story with the world; as of March 23, 2019 the Wikipedia page for Mabel Heath Palmer was published!

I’m grateful for these experiences. They’ve helped me to empathize with the inequality that women have and continue to experience, and to realize that it will only improve with our awareness and hard work.

Keep learning,

Dr. K

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Comment below:

Are there other women in anatomy whose story needs telling? Where have you experienced or witnessed gender inequality?