IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp18675.html

The Gender Gap in Digital Skills at Work

Author

Listed:
  • Whelan, Adele

    (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin)

  • Brosnan, Luke

    (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin)

  • McGuinness, Seamus

    (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Whelan, Adele & Brosnan, Luke & McGuinness, Seamus, 2026. "The Gender Gap in Digital Skills at Work," IZA Discussion Papers 18675, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18675
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp18675.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Card & Jörg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2013. "Workplace Heterogeneity and the Rise of West German Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(3), pages 967-1015.
    2. Mariya Brussevich & Era Dabla-Norris & Christine Kamunge & Pooja Karnane & Salma Khalid & Kalpana Kochhar, 2018. "Gender, Technology, and the Future of Work," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 18/07, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Muriel Niederle & Lise Vesterlund, 2010. "Explaining the Gender Gap in Math Test Scores: The Role of Competition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(2), pages 129-144, Spring.
    4. Roland G. Fryer & Steven D. Levitt, 2010. "An Empirical Analysis of the Gender Gap in Mathematics," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 210-240, April.
    5. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    6. Mariya Brussevich & Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Christine Kamunge & Pooja Karnane & Salma Khalid & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar, 2018. "Gender, Technology, and the Future of Work," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2018/007, International Monetary Fund.
    7. David Card & A. Abigail Payne, 2021. "High School Choices And The Gender Gap In Stem," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 9-28, January.
    8. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    9. Pedro Bordalo & Katherine Coffman & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2019. "Beliefs about Gender," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(3), pages 739-773, March.
    10. Jae Song & David J Price & Fatih Guvenen & Nicholas Bloom & Till von Wachter, 2019. "Firming Up Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 1-50.
    11. Seamus McGuinness & Konstantinos Pouliakas & Paul Redmond, 2023. "Skills-displacing technological change and its impact on jobs: challenging technological alarmism?," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3), pages 370-392, April.
    12. Falck, Oliver & Heimisch-Roecker, Alexandra & Wiederhold, Simon, 2021. "Returns to ICT skills," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    13. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    14. Ronald Bachmann & Friederike Hertweck, 2025. "The gender gap in digital literacy: a cohort analysis for Germany," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 608-613, March.
    15. Pritika Reddy & Bibhya Sharma & Kaylash Chaudhary, 2020. "Digital Literacy: A Review of Literature," International Journal of Technoethics (IJT), IGI Global Scientific Publishing, vol. 11(2), pages 65-94, July.
    16. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    17. Daron Acemoglu, 1999. "Changes in Unemployment and Wage Inequality: An Alternative Theory and Some Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1259-1278, December.
    18. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March.
    19. Garcia-Lazaro, Aida & Mendez-Astudillo, Jorge & Lattanzio, Susan & Larkin, Charles & Newnes, Linda, 2025. "The digital skill premium: Evidence from job vacancy data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    20. David Neumark, 1988. "Employers' Discriminatory Behavior and the Estimation of Wage Discrimination," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 23(3), pages 279-295.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adele Whelan & Brosnan, Luke & McGuinness, Seamus, 2026. "Squandered skills? Bridging the digital gender skills gap for inclusive growth in Ireland – A comparative European perspective," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number JR15.
    2. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2018. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: new insights from Australia using unconditional quantile regression and decomposition," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, December.
    3. Xinxin Ma, 2026. "Trade Liberalisation and the Gender Wage Gap: Evidence From Pilot Free Trade Zones Policy Reform in China," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(2), pages 321-338, April.
    4. Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina & Briel, Stephanie, 2022. "The gender pay gap revisited: Does machine learning offer new insights?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. MA, Xinxin & HAN, Jiachen & LI, Shi, 2026. "Non-Routine Tasks and The Gender Wage Gap : Evidence from China," Discussion Paper Series 779, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    6. Deng, Yue & Feng, Aiya & Hu, Dezhuang, 2025. "Gender earnings gap in Chinese firms: Can it be narrowed by industrial robots?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Iga Magda & Katarzyna Sałach, 2021. "Gender pay gaps in domestic and foreign-owned firms," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 2237-2263, October.
    8. Larissa Fuchs & Pia Pinger & Philipp Seegers, 2025. "Relative Grades and Gender Differences in STEM Enrollment," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_633, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    9. Nguyen, Ha, 2015. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: New insights from Australia using quantile regression and decomposition," MPRA Paper 67586, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Borra, Cristina & Iacovou, Maria & Sevilla, Almudena, 2023. "Adolescent development and the math gender gap," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Dominique Cappelletti & Maria Vittoria Levati & Matteo Ploner, 2022. "Math ability, gender stereotypes about math ability, and educational choices. Combining experimental and survey data," Working Papers 07/2022, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    12. Collischon & Matthias, 2018. "Can Personality Traits Explain Glass Ceilings?," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 965, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    13. Oscar Molina Tejerina & Luis Castro Peñarrieta, 2020. "Unexplained Wage Gaps in the Tradable and Nontradable Sectors: Cross-Sectional Evidence by Gender in Bolivia," Investigación & Desarrollo 0120, Universidad Privada Boliviana.
    14. Grosch, Kerstin & Haeckl, Simone & Kocher , Martin G., 2022. "Closing the gender STEM gap. A large-scale randomized-controlled trial in elementary schools," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2022/4, University of Stavanger.
    15. Hansen, Henrik & Rand, John & Win, Ngu Wah, 2022. "The gender wage gap in Myanmar: Adding insult to injury?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    16. Yasar, Serife, 2026. "Minimum wages and the gender wage gap within firms," Ruhr Economic Papers 1204, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    17. Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Mathias G. Sinning, 2014. "Distributional Changes in the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 335-361, April.
    18. Ramskogler, Paul & Riedl, Aleksandra & Schoiswohl, Florian, 2020. "Swinging female labor demand – How the public sector influences gender wage gaps in Europe," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 302, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    19. Ana Fernandes & Martin Huber & Giannina Vaccaro, 2021. "Gender differences in wage expectations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-24, June.
    20. Brian Nolan & Juan C. Palomino, 2026. "The gender wealth gap and the role of private pension wealth in Great Britain," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 791-838, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18675. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.