Based on the current wave of the National Educational Panel Study, the WSI report examines the effects of the digital transformation on gender inequality in the labour market. To this end, 4,759 employees were asked about their use of digital technologies in the workplace and their self-assessment of their career prospects.
For many employees, the digital transformation harbours the risk of restructuring or even job losses. As the study shows, this risk and the associated lower recognition and pay particularly affect women working part-time. Accordingly, there is a risk that the digital transformation will increase gender inequality in the labour market. The expected or already observed consequences of the digital transformation on gender inequality can be explained by the so-called gender digital gap, i.e. the gender-specific differences in access to and use of digital technologies.
As the empirical analyses show, there is a gender digital gap particularly in the use of advanced programmes or programming languages and networked digital technologies. This gender digital gap also translates into a poorer assessment of their own career opportunities in a digitalised labour market. Only 34% of women, but 49% of men, consider themselves well prepared for dealing with networked digital technologies.
First and foremost, the gender digital gap exists for women working part-time compared to female employees working full-time as well as compared to men working full-time and part-time. The probability that the job is strongly or very strongly characterised by the use of networked digital technologies is only 39% for part-time women. This figure is 52% for full-time women and 54% for men. One reason for this is that women reduce their working hours much more frequently than men for family reasons and the associated stigmatisation leads to professional disadvantages, including with regard to the use of digital technologies.
