The Gender Gap in Digital Skills at Work

Adele Whelan (), Luke Brosnan () and Seamus McGuinness ()
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Adele Whelan: Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin
Luke Brosnan: Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin
Seamus McGuinness: Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin

No 18675, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: We analyse the gender gap in digital skills use at work across Europe. We find a substantial gap, with women significantly less likely to perform advanced digital tasks. A raw gender gap of around 16 percentage points is observed, of which only 30 per cent is attributable to observable factors. Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions using unconditional decile regressions reveal that the gap is most pronounced at the upper end of the digital intensity distribution, where women are substantially underrepresented. The explained component of the gender digital skills gap increases with digital task intensity, suggesting that access to highly digital jobs is shaped by gendered educational and occupational sorting. However, persistent unexplained gaps from intermediate levels indicate potential structural, cultural, or other organisational barriers at play. Furthermore, we find that younger women already face larger gaps in advanced digital skill use than older workers, suggesting that it is not a legacy issue.

Keywords: digitalisation; digital skills gap; gender inequality; labour markets; technological change; task-based analysis; decomposition analysis; inclusive growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I25 J16 J24 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05
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