Gender Gap Through Time and Space: A Journey Through Wikipedia Biographies and the "WIGI" Index

Abstract: In this study we investigate how quantification of Wikipedia biographies can shed light on worldwide longitudinal gender inequality trends. We present an academic index allowing comparative study of gender inequality through space and time, the Wikipedia Gender Index (WIGI), based on metadata available through the Wikidata database. Our research confirms that gender inequality is a phenomenon with a long history, but whose patterns can be analyzed and quantified on a larger scale than previously thought possible. Through the use of Inglehart- Welzel cultural clusters, we show that gender inequality can be analyzed with regards to world's cultures. In the dimension studied (coverage of females and other genders in reference works) we show a steadily improving trend, through one with aspects that deserve careful follow up analysis (such as the surprisingly high ranking of the Confucian and South Asian clusters). Keywords: data mining, Wikidata, Wikipedia, gender gap, demographics