To examine the antecedents of second level of gender digital divide among Indian youth

Abstract

Digital Divide (DD) is classified into three levels as the first level DD depicts the difference in physical access of hardware and software and internet connection; second-level DD refers to the difference in digital usage and third-level DD as the difference in outcomes received from digital usage. One of the forms of DD is Gender Digital Divide (GDD), remotely explained as unequal access of digital tools among men and women. Extensive studies in different economies were conducted to understand the factors contributing to GDD, specifically in relation to the first level of Digital Divide, but the present authors found few records on the factors affecting or barriers contributing to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) usage, causing the second level of GDD. Therefore, the study aims to understand the second level of GDD of Indian youth affected by the barriers classified as: Technical Barriers, Economical Barriers, and Social Networking Barriers; where the digital usage in categorized as: Entertainment Usage, Professional Usage and Financial Usage. Out of the distributed 400 structured questionnaires among the randomly selected University students, 368 were completed. ANOVA test resulted in significant difference in Entertainment Usage and Financial Usage of ICT and internet among both genders where females are found to be more inclined to both the uses, as depicted through comparative means. No significant difference was found in Professional Usage among genders. Significant difference was reported with regards to Social Networking Barriers and Economical Barriers. This study contributes in understanding the factors affecting second level of digital divide, specifically. Females highly face all the three barriers as compared to men, in spite of which Entertainment Usage and Financial Usage is more among women.