A Cross-Country Examination of Internet Penetration and the Economic Participation of Women: The Influence of Social Capital and Gender Equality

Abstract

One of the most widespread types of digital technology is the Internet which more than 5 billion people or 63.1% of the world’s population use as of April 2022. Previous studies have established that the relationship between digital technologies, such as the Internet, and labour market participation is worth investigating. While it is widely accepted that digital technologies help in women’s social and economic inclusion, the female labour participation force observed across countries remains slow and varied. There remains a limited investigation into the influence of internet penetration on the changes in the labour market outcomes for women. There is also scope for research on how the Internet affects women’s economic participation from a social and gender perspective. Prior research shows that social capital has been linked to labour allocation. Studies also show that variations in ideas on gender roles are significant for women’s decisions to find employment. We, therefore, investigate how widespread penetration of the Internet has influenced the economic participation of women in this study. We also investigate how social capital and gender equality play a role in the above relationship across countries. Our study uses archival data to conduct a panel analysis of 66 countries from 2014 to 2021. The study’s results show that the penetration of internet and the economic participation of women are positively associated. This study also found that the link between the penetration of internet and the economic participation of women is mediated by social capital. Gender equality was also found to moderate the above relationship, such that social capital had a stronger mediation influence on the association between internet penetration and women’s economic engagement in nations with comparatively lower levels of gender equality.