Digital competence is becoming an increasingly important factor in university students’ academic and professional trajectories, but do significant differences between men and women still persist?
This study examines undergraduate students’ self-perceived digital competence across several Spanish universities, while also considering factors such as autonomous community, academic performance, and field of study. The research draws on data from 725 undergraduate students and focuses its gender comparison on 700 participants, using the INCOTIC instrument to assess four dimensions of digital competence: information, technological, multimedia, and communication literacy.
The results paint a more nuanced picture of the digital gender gap than might be expected. Overall, no significant differences were found between men and women in self-perceived digital competence, nor when field of study was taken into account or degrees were grouped into STEM and non-STEM areas.
Differences do emerge, however, in specific dimensions. The most consistent concerns communication literacy, where women report significantly lower self-perceived competence than men. Variations are also associated with autonomous community and, especially, average academic grades: academic performance shows a significant association with overall digital competence and its different dimensions, while gender plays a much more limited role.
The study therefore suggests that the digital gender gap among Spanish university students cannot be understood as a broad and uniform disadvantage affecting women, but rather as a more specific phenomenon shaped by other factors. The findings may even point to a narrowing of some differences traditionally identified in previous research, although inequalities persist in students’ perceptions of certain competencies, particularly communication-related ones.
The authors consequently stress the need to continue promoting equitable digital competence development and to avoid assuming that everyday use of technology automatically makes students digitally competent. At the same time, they acknowledge the limitations of a sample that is not representative of all Spanish autonomous communities and call for further research across other educational stages, as well as into the social, economic, and cultural factors that may influence these differences.
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How to Cite: Artiles-Rodríguez, J., Aguiar-Perera, M. V., Esteve-González, V., & Serrano-Molinero, V. (2025). The digital gender gap among undergraduate students in several Spanish universities. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 28(1), 371–395. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.28.1.41536
