Gender digital divide: the complexity of digital media literacy among high school students with professional technical training in Mexico

Abstract

Nowadays, society faces a new era of digitization and virtualization due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This era has influenced all the complex aspects of human life. Therefore, it is vital to promote the digital media literacy of students in all educational levels, but it is needed in high school as a step before higher education. On the other hand, the digital gender divide represents a digital fracture that causes a lower representation of women in the digital world and access to STEM careers, even affecting female students' learning due to factors such as technophobia or stereotypes associated with feminine and masculine roles. This study presents the perception of the complex level of digital media literacy of 124 students (men=73, women=44, and non-binary students=7) in a high school center with technical professional training in computer science in Mexico. The data collection employed an instrument that measured three dimensions of digital media literacy based on gender. The sample considered just male participants in all groups, highlighting a gender gap in technical and professional education. However, men had a lower level in all three dimensions: Access to Digital Information (ADI) (M=3.05), Interpretation of Digital Information (IDI) (M=3.05), and Production and Socialization of Digital Communication (PSDC) (M=3.02) compared to women (ADI: M=3.10; IDI: M=3.10; PSDC: M=3.21). Although the results indicate differences in media literacy among high school students with professional technical training, the interaction between men and women is highly similar.