What some research syntheses say
At the DiDiRes Hub, we've conducted a series of in-depth studies to analyze research on gender differences and similarities. These studies combined the results of many different research papers to get a clearer picture of the overall trends.
For example, a study by Siddiq and Scherer (2019) found that girls generally performed better than boys in digital skills. While there was a difference, it was quite small, even smaller than the differences we see in traditional subjects like math and reading. More recent studies, such as those by Campos et al. (2023) and Scherer et al. (2024), have confirmed these findings. However, it's important to note that these differences aren't consistent across all studies and can vary quite a bit.
These gender differences, and the fact that they vary from study to study, could be due to several factors. This might include how the studies were designed, the specific tests used, the characteristics of the people in the studies, or differences between boys and girls in other constructs. For example, boys and girls might have different beliefs about their own digital skills. A study by Cai et al. (2017) suggested that boys often think they are better at technology than girls. However, we don't fully understand how these beliefs relate to the actual gender differences in digital skills (Campos & Scherer, 2024).
What the newest ICILS 2023 results show
The latest Information and Computer Literacy Study (ICILS) 2023 assessed eight-graders digital skills across 34 countries (Fraillon, 2024). These skills focused on the students’ computer and information literacy (CIL) and their computational thinking (CT). For an overview of this large-scale assessment, please refer to the study’s webpage and the respective reports (https://www.iea.nl/studies/iea/icils/2023).
While girls significantly outperformed boys in computer and information literacy (CIL), boys slightly outperformed girls in computational thinking (CT). Moreover, in 28 out of 32 countries, girls performed better in CIL. In 6 out of 22 countries, boys performed better in CT. At least observations are worth noting: First, the evidence on gender gaps in CIL aligns with previous meta-analyses, suggesting a consistent trend. Second, the discrepancy between CIL and CT performance highlights the nuanced nature of digital skills.
The obvious question is what may explain the gender differences within and across these digital skills. Potential explanations may include task-specific demands. For instance, CT tasks often require more abstract reasoning and problem-solving, while CIL tasks may rely more on information retrieval and comprehension. Future research will (hopefully) delve deeper into the reasons behind these disparities.