A new report reveals that while gender inequality is still a very prominent reality, being digitally fluent can help women narrow the pay gap.
The study, Getting to Equal: How Digital Is Helping Close the Gender Gap at Work defines digital fluency as the extent to which people embrace and use digital technology in order to become more knowledgeable, connected and effective at work. A global consulting and technology services company, Accenture, put the report together. The report examined the extent to which men and women adopted digital technology while analyzing the influence it has on their education in preparing for work, employment and career advancement. Almost 5,000 men and women were surveyed and millennials, generation X and baby boomers were all equally represented.
One human resource expert acknowledged that there are many different ways the gender gap can be closed, but digital is one of the more promising.
Accenture used a Digital Fluency Model to gauge respondents’ use of digital technology, looking at the devices they had access to and how and when they used them. The model also looked at whether or not respondents had taken virtual or online classes, or used digital collaboration tools like chat or webcams to assist in the workplace.
Nations with the highest rates of digital fluency among women (US, Netherlands, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) also had the highest rates of equality in the workplace.
Digital fluency also leads to flexible working. Almost half of the women respondents said they use digital technology to work from home and to access job opportunities. The same percentage also said that technology helps them balance their lives.
Another human resource expert praised digital fluency for the influence it has on collaboration too. Websites like GoToMeeting and WebEx allow for virtual meetings while Google Docs allows users to share documents anywhere in the world. It is way easier to collaborate today than it was a decade ago.
Digital fluency is only one factor and cannot single handedly bridge the gender gap. There is, however, ample evidence that digital fluency can help accelerate equality in the workplace.
