Making Waves in a Fountain of Knowledge
2020 Change Agent Abie Award Winner’s Quest to Bring Gender Balance to Wikipedia
“There are 32 million articles on Wikipedia, yet only 18% of them featured women. How could this be?!”
This was the question that confronted Dr. Jess Wade, a physicist, in December 2017. She set out to rectify this imbalance by writing one Wikipedia article a day about a scientist or engineer who was a female, a minority or both.
“I quite like a challenge and I quite like a target,” she proclaims, in true Change Agent fashion.
Today, she has personally authored over 1,000 articles, thereby bringing more diversity, visibility and inclusivity to Wikipedia. She is eager for others to make similar contributions, showcasing and celebrating the accomplishments of female scientists and technologists who would not otherwise receive the recognition they deserve.
“I feel humbled and inspired by the women I’ve come across when writing Wikipedia articles . It’s fascinating to read about their accomplishments and the impact they are having on humanity as a whole. When they rise, we all rise.”
As a high school student in London, England, Jess fell in love with the logic and order she found in mathematics, which eventually led her to specialize in the field of physics.
“I really liked the application of mathematics to better understand the world and physics was just an incredible way to do that.”
She recently completed her post-doctorate in physics at Imperial College London, and her team is hard at work on technology that will enable cellphones to have a crisper, clearer display under the glare of the sun or other sources of light. The same technology will also enable cellphones to retain a longer battery life. Jess bubbles over with enthusiasm as she describes the structural makeup that creates this win-win. “In the twisted molecular structures, there’s a magnetic field as well as an electrical current,” she explains. Although the exact technical details may elude the layperson, the practical applications of crisper screen resolution and longer battery life are undeniable.
Jess’s journey has not been without its challenges. She attributes her success to her persistence and her support system.
“My family is massively important to who I am as a person. I knew I wanted to stay in London, which is where I grew up. But it is difficult to secure a research position anywhere, especially in your hometown or at your alma mater. There were times when what I was trying to achieve looked and felt impossible.”
However, she did not allow this to stop her from contributing. She recalls moments as a young Ph. D. student in physics, a field that remains male-dominated.
“Under circumstances such as these, it is even harder to raise your hand and say, ‘I don’t understand how this works,’ or ‘What if we tried this instead?’”
Jess credits her mentors and early advocates for helping her overcome these hurdles. She advises others to seek out their own networks of encouragement.
“Find a support system, a network of people, advocates who will shout from the rooftops about how brilliant you are, even on those days when you feel as if you’ll never make it. The deck is stacked against [women in STEM] in so many ways. But what I admire about women is how they use their knowledge, by carrying it forward, empowering and enabling entire communities to rise.”
Jess’ vision for the future of technology is one in which diversity of thought and experience play a key role in innovation toward a better world and quality of life for everyone. Her dedication to creating more visibility for the contributions of technical women, one Wikipedia article at a time, will play a key role in advancing this cause. She has led and organized Wikipedia edit-a-thons and has also delivered a TEDx Talk to share her mission. Jess is also extremely active on social media, raising sufficient funding to provide every state school in the United Kingdom with a copy of Dr. Angela Saini’s “Inferior.”
“Technology is for all demographics and plays a key role in empowering previously marginalized demographics. When women come from parts of the world that don’t enjoy the same advantages as [more developed] countries and they use what they have learned to solve problems ‘back home,’ it feels like a privilege to be able to participate in that process.”
This story was written by Saranya Murthy, Wogrammer Journalism Fellow. Connect with Dr. Jess Wade and learn more at our 2020 Virtual Grace Hopper Celebration. Register today! #TogetherWeBuild
