James Hanson's fourth goal of the season in the second period at the Coral Windows Stadium was enough to salvage a point for the Bantams against the 2013 FA Cup winners.
Coming into the game off the back of three successive wins in Sky Bet League 1, Parkinson's men fell behind for the first time in four league games when Michael Jacobs fired home for the Latics after after the restart.
The recalled Hanson pounced ten minutes, however, to head home Tony McMahon's corner delivery and extend City's unbeaten run in the league to four.
Parkinson said: "It was a challenging game for us - Wigan are a good side with a terrific array of talent - but I felt we more than matched them.
"You always want to take the three points at home but four points from six following the Bury win (on Tuesday) is a good return for us.
"I'm pleased for James (Hanson) to come back into the side and to get his goal. Tony's (McMahon) delivery was great all game and we are looking a real threat from set-pieces again.
"As I've been saying in recent weeks, I genuinely feel the mentality and the determination within the group is growing all the time.
"Four or five weeks ago, we might not of responded the way we did today (Saturday).
"We are learning together as a group and there is definitely a stronger feeling of toughness about us now."
Speaking after the Wigan game, Parkinson revealed that the club have verbally agreed loan extensions for Reece Burke and Kyel Reid with their respective parent clubs.
Burke will now stay on until the end of November, whilst Reid will remain at Valley Parade until the start of January.
With Josh Morris and Billy Clarke likely to be up for selection for next Saturday's trip to Millwall as well, the agreed extensions are further good news for the City chief.
Parkinson confirmed: "Reece (Burke) is signing on for another month and Kyel (Reid) has agreed to stay with us for a further two months.
"This news is obviously a big boost for us, as is the return of Josh (Morris) and Billy (Clarke).
"They will both be back in contention for next week (vs Millwall).
"We gave them a hard week this week in terms of their training, almost a mini pre-season really.
"We decided at the end of the week that it would be of greater benefit for us and for them going forward if we gave them hard training sessions today (Saturday) and yesterday (Friday) rather than putting them on the bench and only getting ten minutes out of them.
"They have both come through those sessions and we are pleased with the progress they have made."