Towards digital equality: Inclusion frameworks in digital skills with a gender focus in the European Union and Spain

Abstract

Digital equality, as a condition in which all individuals and communities possess the technological capabilities and skills necessary to participate fully in our society, democracy and economy, continues to be a utopia, in the face of the blurred image that the multiform mirror of the digital divide returns to us. A bias that inevitably affects women, due to their gender condition, along with other vulnerable groups. This reality makes the intervention of national, European and international governments and institutions necessary and urgent. On this basis, the main objective of this study is to analyse, from a scientific, critical and multidimensional perspective, the legal framework and the models of inclusion in digital skills implemented in Spain and in the European Union as a whole, assessing their effectiveness in reducing the digital gender gap and promoting an integrative approach that articulates public policies, private initiatives and strategies for female empowerment.