How ICT Development Since the 1990s Has Contributed Differently to Gender Equality in High-income, Middle-income and Low-income Countries

Abstract

Gender inequality is a global issue. It is well known that ICT (Information and Communications Technology) development has a place in promoting gender equality, and many international organizations that aim to promote gender equality have adopted measures on ICT expansion in the process of promoting gender equality. Since the 1990s, ICT has been introduced almost globally, and the lack of access to ICT has improved even in the more disadvantaged regions. The existing literatures have answered positively to the question of whether ICT has contributed to the development of gender equality, but no studies have been conducted to determine whether ICT development has had a different impact on the promotion of gender equality in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries, and middle- and low- income countries are at different stages of development. If it is true that development of gender equality in middle- and low-income countries has been deeply influenced by ICT development, it can be assumed that the continued promotion of ICT development is effective in reducing gender gap in these countries. Therefore, in this paper, GDI (Gender Development Index), HDI (Human Development Index), GGGI (Global Gender Gap Index), investment in ICT with private participation (current US$), mobile cellular subscriptions, individuals using the Internet (% of population), and fixed broadband subscriptions were used to explore whether the development of ICT since the 1990s has had a differential impact on the development of gender equality in the United States, Norway, Mexico, China, Mali, and Yemen. The final result showed that the contribution of ICT development to gender equality since the 1990s is more significant in middle- and low-income countries, and the positive correlation between ICT development and gender equality is more pronounced in middle- and low-income countries.