Women and men write almost the same number of books
17:59
One hundred years ago, women were the authors of an average of one book for every 20 published. Currently, this distribution is almost equal. This is an epochal change, and authorship is considered one of the best measures of gender equality in the long run, according to researchers based on the analysis of several million Polish and German publications.
The research on the distribution of male and female authors of Polish and German books from 1800 to 2021, as well as keywords in the titles, was conducted by researchers from the University of Wrocław and the Wrocław University of Science and Technology.
As stated by Prof. Dr. Adam Pawłowski from the University of Wrocław, the head of the Digital Humanities Workshop, in Central Europe, where state borders and currency systems changed very frequently, authorship of books is one of the best and most stable measures of gender equality in the long term, for example, over 200 years.
"The current situation and the scale of changes can only be revealed through the analysis of large datasets over a long period. Big data is insensitive to spectacular indicators of women's status, such as high-ranking positions in politics or awards," the researchers explained.
