Didactical Tool: Digital Gender Gap

Authors: Christa Markom, Jelena Tošić, Magdalena Steger
Tags: Digital Divide Digital Age Gap Digital Queer Gap Digitalization Digital Inclusion Digital Literacy

The Digital Gender Gap (DGG) or Digital Gender Divide describes the difference between men and women regarding the possibility of participating in the digital world. This starts with different ways of accessing the internet, as well as using the internet via smartphones, the general ability to own a cell phone, and the resulting disadvantages in professional life (IGI-Global, 2021). Especially in the last two years, the Covid 19 pandemic has made the difference between men and women with regards to digital participation even more pronounced. This is evidenced by the fact that gaps between men and women are reappearing that have already been closed (Global Gender Gap Report, 2021) The gender gap refers to the inequality between women and men in all areas of life.

What is it about?

As a first step, teachers should read about the concept on Digital Gender Gap in digitclue.net. Note the most important aspects, so you can work with it during the next steps. Create a worksheet for your students, so you can discuss this topic with them. You can also use or adapt the existing one, which you can find here. Parts of the existing worksheet are the Learning Apps, which can be used by the students. You can create your own Learnings Apps for this topic under this link: https://learningapps.org/
You can choose between different options like multiple choice, gap texts, and more. If you want to use the Learning Apps without the worksheet you can find them under the following links:

Discuss the ideas and answers of the students together in the classroom.

Tell your colleagues

After working on the concept with the students you can share your created materials with colleagues all over the world. For this you can upload them on the Digital Inclusion Map on the Website of DigitClue. The D.I. Map is a map of the world, where users can share projects, materials, ideas, and comments on digital inclusion in their own country.

Thinking further

You now have thought and discussed about the Digital Gender Gap from your own perspective, as well as from the perspective of the students. Now we invite you to change your perspective and think about the Digital Gender Gap in a different way.

Example 1:
Imagine the Digital Gender Gap with swapped roles: Women are using the Internet more than men. How could the Digital Gender Gap look like? Would it be the same or different? What could be the reasons, for women using the Internet more? How could this scenario come to life?

Example 2:
In the Digital Gender Gap, there is only a definition for men and women. What is missing here is a non-binary definition, which avoids the dominant gender regime that is oriented towards heteronormativity. Think about the Digital Gender Gap from the perspective of a non-binary definition. How would the definition of the Digital Gender Gap change?