User:Aphrodeities/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Women's International Democratic Federation

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
As we learned in class, the WIDF was the largest post-1945 organized women's group that provided solidarity across international lines in a highly-polarized Cold War world. However, given that much of the WIDF has been omitted from public memory given the organization's critical stances against wars waged by prominent Western powers (Korean War, French-led war in Vietnam), I find it interesting to see what has been preserved and is being publicly presented regarding this organization.

Evaluate the article
- The opening paragraph that gives a brief overview of the organization definitely does the balanced, fact-stating technique that is emphasized as important in Wikipedia articles. Rather than making an argumentative claim over the classification of the WIDF as pro-Soviet, it notes that it was labelled as such by the FBI (thus giving insight into the motivations behind it without being pro or against).

- The only body paragraph focuses on the WIDF's status during the Cold War, which is obviously very relevant given that its controversy was heavily implicated in the anti-Communist hysteria of major global powers like the U.S. However, the details are very scant, focusing only on the group's condemnation as opposed to their relationship to the Cold War's ideologies, their political goals and organized action.

- There is note of current secretariats involved in the WIDF, and yet there is only information on the organization in the context of the Cold War "cancellation", not how the group evolved and spread oor died out over time.

- There is also little to no information on the membership and leadership on the page. There could be a 'notable members' section that hyperlinks to some of the feminists' pages.

- The citations are a bit lacking as well -- prominent scholarship exists in contemporary times, such as the WIDF research and analysis being conducted by Suzy Kim, and yet there is little reference given to her work, as well as some failed citations being included in the article.

- There are few photographs of WIDF pamphlets, membership, or other memorabilia that could bolster readers' understanding of what the WIDF does.

- There is no engagement on the article's talk page, suggesting a lack of time spent engaging with the article and improving it.