Lead Program Officer - Gender

Summary

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia – one of the most popular websites in the world, accessed by over 1.8 billion unique devices every month. It is the only non-profit in the top 50 websites, supported by a community of millions of individual donors around the world. Because of its contribution to the knowledge ecosystem globally, it is important that Wikipedia and other projects capture the full diversity of content that exists across societies today. For this reason, the inclusion of women and non-binary contributors, and efforts to grow encyclopaedic content to better reflect gender-diverse topics and perspectives, is critically important. However, much like for our society, gender inequality continues to be a challenge in our movement where:

• Women and non-binary people are significantly underrepresented among the readers of Wikipedia. On average 67% of Wikipedia readers in a given day are estimated to be men. 
• Women and other gender identities are significantly underrepresented among the editors of Wikimedia. Men make up 80% of active editors. 
• Women and other gender identities are underrepresented in the content of Wikipedia. On average, 80% of the biographies on Wikipedia are about men.

To address these disparities, organizers across the Wikimedia movement are working to close knowledge gaps in gender by supporting established and newcomer editors to join the movement. Community-led content campaigns focused on addressing the gender gap — like Whose Knowledge, Art + Feminism, Women in Red, She Said and the Women’s Health Project — represent some of the efforts to make the Wikimedia movement more equitable.

The Community Programs team seeks to contract a Lead Program Officer - Gender, to aid our efforts at strengthening our support to campaign organizers working on gender equity in the Wikimedia Movement. The Lead Program Officer will be responsible for leading coordination of the movement and the Foundation in gender-related programming, research and campaigning; helping to ramp up and scale existing campaigns focused on the gender gap. This is a one-year contract with the strong possibility of extension. 

You are responsible for:

• Leading the co-creation, implementation and monitoring of innovative solutions and processes that edify the movement’s efforts at closing the gender gap, including through collaboration with Product and technology innovations;
• Overseeing learning experiences and pathways with the movement to support newcomer retention and existing editor participation in content campaigns related to gender;
• Coordinating global partnerships, including with multilateral agencies, related to gender equity and the Wikimedia movement; 
• Coordinating and developing programming for events and solidarity spaces with diverse actors; 
• Coordinating learning and shared goal-making infrastructure within the Wikimedia Foundation and movement; 
• Developing a communication and advocacy strategy that helps amplify the work of organizers and editors working on gender to attract meaningful partnerships and editors to our movement; and 
• Supporting cross-departmental learning about knowledge equity and knowledge gaps.

Skills and Experience:

• 8+ years professional experience in addition to a Masters degree, or 12+ years experience with a Bachelor’s degree, with a focus on gender, social justice, inclusion or another relevant field
• Familiarity with the Wikimedia movement, including experience in organizing campaigns and/or using Product tools on Wikimedia projects;
• Experience developing, monitoring and adapting strategy related to gender mainstreaming and inclusive practices; 
• Experience overseeing the development of learning materials, workshops and processes in multicultural settings;
• Experience managing high-level partnerships, including with multilateral agencies; 
• A track record of promoting skills development and shared practices through documentation and storytelling, conference presentations, and/or workshop facilitation.
• Experience working with a distributed and remote team with people of diverse skill sets and backgrounds.
• Strong written and spoken English. Non-native English speakers are welcomed.

Qualities that are important to us:

• A passion for free and open knowledge, and a willingness to get involved in the complex, decentralized process of creating it.
• An understanding of and passion for diversity, equity and inclusion practices and power-sharing practices.
• Self motivated with a curiosity to learn and experiment.
• Collaborative, flexible, and interested in feedback from people with diverse skills,  experiences, and perspectives.

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

• Experience working with professional networks or communities in South/Central America and/or Africa.

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive. 

The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that relies on donations. We receive donations from millions of individuals around the world, with an average donation of about $15. We also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

As an equal opportunity employer, the Wikimedia Foundation values having a diverse workforce and continuously strives to maintain an inclusive and equitable workplace. We encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate against any person based upon their race, traits historically associated with race, religion, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy or related medical conditions, parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, or any other legally protected characteristics.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a remote-first organization with staff members including contractors based in 40+ countries*. Salaries at the Wikimedia Foundation are set in a way that is competitive, equitable, and consistent with our values and culture. The anticipated hourly pay range of this position for applicants based within the United States is up to US$40/hour with multiple individualized factors, including cost of living in the location, being the determinants of the offered pay. For applicants located outside of the US, the pay range will be adjusted to the country of hire. We neither ask for nor take into consideration the salary history of applicants. The compensation for a successful applicant will be based on their skills, experience, and location. 

*Please note that we are currently able to hire in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay.  Our non-US employees are hired through a local third-party Employer of Record (EOR). 

We periodically review this list to streamline to ensure alignment with our hiring requirements. 

All applicants can reach out to their recruiter to understand more about the specific pay range for their location during the interview process.

If you are a qualified applicant requiring assistance or accommodation to complete any step of the application process due to a disability, you may contact us at recruiting@wikimedia.org or +1 (415) 839-6885.

More information

Wikimedia Foundation
Applicant Privacy Policy
News from across the Wikimedia movement
Wikimedia 2030
Our Commitment to Equity
This is Wikimedia Foundation 
Facts Matter
Our Projects
Our Tech Stack

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