This is an overview to trace the history of Wikipedia initiatives in support of women, starting with those in relation to the English language version of Wikipedia. This initial listing was compiled in July 2021 but will be updated as necessary.
Although by mid-2021 Women in Red has become the most active wikiproject in support of women's coverage on the English version of Wikipedia, the history of the need for action on reducing gender bias goes back to 2005. Indeed, the first initiative along these lines was the creation of Wikipedia:WikiProject Gender studies by AmishThrasher on 21 December 2005. It began with "WikiProject Gender Studies is aimed at removing gender bias from Wikipedia." Since then wikiprojects and similar initiatives have been created to support improved coverage of women and their works in a wide variety of professions, cultural interests, sports and organizations. They are presented in chronological order below, initially those which evolved on the English version of Wikipedia but also those targeting one or more other language versions of Wikipedia.
Wikidata has an entry on Women in Red with links to projects in other languages. (This could no doubt be expanded with further work on Wikidata.)