Sandi Toksvig backs Mappa Mundi project to counter Wikipedia's gender bias

Addressing Wikipedia's Bias

Sandi Toksvig is backing the Mappa Mundi project, an initiative developed with the University of Cambridge. This project aims to create an "interactive digital atlas" to house knowledge that is currently marginalized or removed from platforms like Wikipedia. Toksvig argues that Wikipedia exhibits a significant bias, particularly concerning women and non-Western topics.

Underrepresentation of Women

Toksvig highlights the underrepresentation of women on Wikipedia, citing that only 19% of its biographies are about women, according to the Wikimedia Foundation's own estimates. She attributes this to the demographic of Wikipedia's editors, whom she describes as "mostly white, middle-aged, European men." An example given is Canadian physicist Donna Strickland, whose draft biographies were repeatedly rejected by Wikipedia until she received a Nobel Prize.

Geographical Content Imbalance

Beyond gender, Wikipedia's content also shows a geographical imbalance. A 2013 study by the Oxford Internet Institute found that Wikipedia contained more coverage of Germany than of Africa and South America combined. This indicates a weighting towards content from wealthier countries.

Alternative Projects and Their Challenges

The article also mentions Elon Musk's AI-powered alternative to Wikipedia, Grokipedia. However, a paper published in November 2025 indicated that Grokipedia articles were 13 times more likely to include sources blacklisted by the English Wikipedia community, such as the neo-Nazi website Stormfront.

Mappa Mundi's Intent

In contrast to other attempts, Toksvig's Mappa Mundi project is presented as having better intentions, focusing on inclusivity and providing a platform for diverse knowledge. The project seeks to rectify the systemic biases observed in existing large-scale knowledge repositories.