Gender digital divide: Breaking the silence in information science

Abstract

Latin America does not research on the problems of digital divide related to gender. This was one of the findings in the research made at Universidade Estadual Paulista, which included the most cited literature in English, Spanish and Portuguese in the domain of the digital divide. Women's lack of access to digital information technology or their inability to benefit from it, due to their gender, define a type of exclusion that is being studied in developed countries, but Latin America is neglected. To contribute to the development of gender research in librarian and information sciences, this study compiled the most relevant works about gender digital exclusion, identifying the main problems they refer to, articulating them in a conceptual map that allows to perceive the challenges and opportunities of research that they imply to the region. The target is to break academic silence in librarian and information sciences, and spread out what we know about gender digital exclusion, articulating it comprehensively to boost new projects, valuing female exclusion in science and technology, and specifically in information and communication technology, as a central problem of the research agenda of librarian and information sciences, of all Social Sciences, and of Latin American education and research institutions.