Executive summary

• Author: European Institute for Gender Equality (EU body or agency)
• Pages: 9-12

Executive summary

9

Gender equality and youth: opportunities and risks of digitalisation

Executive summary

(2) See Figure 1: 57 % of women aged 25-54 and 52 % of men aged 25-54.

(3) A common European response to shared goals: Aconcept for tackling the digital-skills challenges in Europe: Outcome of the [digital single

market] DSM sub-group on digital skills, available via http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=43900

(4) According to Special Eurobarometer 460, in 2017, 92 % of women and men aged 15-24 consider themselves to be suciently skilled

in the use of digital technologies in their daily life.

EIGEs research shows the many ways digital tech-

nologies are benefiting young people in access to

learning, friendship, infor mation and actions for

social change. It also shows that aggressive be-

haviour online is anticipated and normalised. As

a result, young people have developed pre-emp-

tive coping strategies. Young women (and girls

in particular) considerably res trict what they ex-

press online for fear of cyber-aggression, sexual-

ised cyberbullying, gossip and hateful comments.

For boys, the tendency seems to be to ignore and

minimise the abuse experienced, whether that

abuse comes from other girls or boys.

For the EU to harness the potential of digital

technologies for youth mobilisation, diminishing

the power of gender stereotypes online and pro -

moting the diversit y of voices, opinions and gen-

der identity are essential. The opportunities and

threats of digitalisation for gender equality are

rarely explicitly recognised. It is crucial that the

EU institutions and the EU Member States incor-

porate a gender perspective in all digital youth

initiatives and that they recognise that digital

media offers a powerful tool for mobilisation in

support of gender equality. Provided that there

is targeted support and funding for womens em-

powerment, digitalisation can signif icantly con-

tribute to the pursuit of an inclusive, equal and

participatory societ y.

In the EU, 92 % of young women and 93 % of

young men use the internet every day. This re-

flects a substantial increase since 2011, when

81 % of EU youth used the internet daily. Although

the level of use is almost identical betwe en young

women and young men, it is wor th noting t hat

gender gaps to the detriment of women are still

a reality among older generations.

Young people represent the most digitally skilled

generation in the EU, with 56 % of young women

and 58 % of men aged 16-24 holding above-ba-

sic digital skills. The rest of this age group have

either basic or low digital skills. B y comparison,

only around one third of the population aged

25-54 have above-basic digital skills. The fact

that most adults in Europe in 2017 had low to

basic digital skills (2) would seem to suggest that

many parents, teachers and educators may be

lagging behind young people when it comes to

digital skills. It is estimated that only 20-25 % of

students in the EU are taught by digitally confi-

dent and supportive teachers who have ready ac-

cess to ICT and have few obstacles to using it in

school (3). Investment in lifelong learning and re-

moving occupational-training barriers are ways

to support teachers in updating and increasing

their digital-skill levels. Such training could addi-

tionally benefit gender equalit y within the teach-

ing profession, which remains female dominated

across Europe (EIGE, 2017c).

Although young women and men have similar

digital skills, young men indicate higher

confidence in their digital skills

Throughout the EU, a similar share of young wom-

en and men feel sufficientl y skilled to use digital

technologies in their daily lives (

4

), yet boys feel

more confident about their digital skills. For ex-

ample, 73 % of boys (compared to 63 % of girls)

aged 15-16 feel comfortable using digital devices

that they are less familiar with. In Member States

with an overall lower level of youth confidence in

digital skills (e.g. AT, FI, LV), the gender gap to the

disadvantage of girls is particularly large, reaching

as high as 25 percentage points (p.p.) in Finland.