Digital Gender Gap in Migrants: the Excluded within the Excluded

Abstract

Migrant women face a situation of double exclusion: in addition to the structural inequalities they experience globally—such as fewer educational opportunities, limited access to formal employment, and precarious working conditions—they also encounter significant disadvantages in accessing and using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which shapes the so-called digital gender gap.

This study analyzes the extent and dimensions of this gap in the migrant population, using the European DIGCOMP framework to identify areas of opportunity for inclusive public policies. The research is based on survey data collected from the migrant population in the city of Ourense, processed through descriptive statistics.

The findings reveal limited repertoires of digital competences and more restricted skills among migrant women, both in comparison with migrant men and with national averages in Spain. This is a scarcely studied phenomenon in academic research, yet one of great relevance, as these women represent one of the groups most exposed to discrimination, mistreatment, and violence.

Digital inclusion, understood as a prerequisite for social, labor, and political participation, must therefore be addressed as both an ethical duty and a shared responsibility among public institutions, private actors, and third-sector organizations, which are called to design specific policies to ensure equity for the “excluded within the excluded.”