The Gender Aspect of the Digital Divide in Russia: Findings from an Empirical Study

Abstract

Researchers emphasize aspects of internet access, such as skill and the opportunities and  benefits derived from its use, when examining the digital divide through a three-level model of  digitalization. The studies (spanning 2000–2022) reviewed by the author suggest that the issue of gender inequality in internet access has only been resolved in the US and Scandinavia. However, the problem of access inequality remains relevant in countries such as Jordan, Indian, Turkey, Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and throughout Latin America and Africa. Most research that incorporated a gender perspective on digital skills was conducted during the 2000s and often involved unrepresentative data. Regarding internet skills, the main finding is that men tend to be more confident internet users in terms of web navigation. Inequality in  internet benefits is the most challenging level of the digital divide to operationalize. Researchers often examined the differences in the purposes of internet usage between men and women, but they did not address how these differences translate into life opportunities and benefits. The empirical foundation of this study is a quantitative survey conducted as part of the Russian Science Foundation project “New Social Inequalities in the Era of Digitalization” (2022). The online sample consists of 5,133 respondents, and the data is representative of Russia. One limitation of the study is the inability to analyze the perspectives of respondents who do not have internet access. The data analysis considers the extensive array of modern gadgets used for accessing the internet. The analysis revealed differences in skills and objectives of internet use between men and women. Men are more likely to possess skills related to computer technical support, while women tend to engage more in online forum discussions. This differentiation pertains to skills that are stereotypically considered “male” and “female.” These disparities in skills are reflected in the purposes of using the internet; for instance, the absence of computer repair skills among women leads to a lack of such objectives in their internet usage, which means they do not take advantage of the opportunity to acquire this skill.