On the Alignment Between Self-Declared Gender Identity and Topical Content from Wikipedia

Abstract

Wikipedia is an important information source for much of the world. One well-established problem is that editors of Wikipedia are overwhelmingly men. This gender gap in participation has resulted in a concern that the content suffers biases as a result of the bias in participation. This problem is hard to study, because the relationships between participation, gender identity, and content have not been established. Prior studies, mostly with children, have shown some differences in topical preferences based on sex. However, this issue has not been studied with adults and has not been considered from more than a binary stance. In this study, we work to understand how gender identity relates to topical preferences. Through an empirical study, we ask participants to declare a gender identity and then present them with pairs of topical article content from Wikipedia. Through thousands of participants and tens of thousands of paired content trials, we uncover relationships between self-declared gender identity and topical preferences. Further, by focusing on topics that have a statistically significant bias, we leverage two of Wikipedia's category systems to illustrate relative categorical differences that are similar to categorical differences described in prior work. The discussion focuses on the subtly of these differences, potential future research, and the implications for interventions based on topical content. Further, the results help us reflect on relationships that might explain the persistent and worsening gender gap in participation.