Gender differences in information literacy among Brazilian youngsters #ECIL2018

Next for liveblogging at ECIL, Gilda Olinto talked about Gender differences in information literacy among Brazilian youngsters. They were looking at gender aspects of ICT access and use, stimulated by the fact that there are lower levels of ICT use and of literacy in females in Brazil. The research was looking at whether there were gender differences, and also some more specific issues, for example if the females were willing to use the internet for women's empowerment. Key data sources were the Household survey in Brazil and also the Brazilian part of the Global Kids Online project.
There are various issues around gender and ICT use. e.g. how women and girls can benefit from use of ICT, whether they are alienated because ICT is seen as a male area, different expectations and lifestyles men/women, issues of racial difference, whether ICT can be used for feminist purposes etc. There is a question of whether girls are prepared to benefit from the technology. Olinto mentioned that there have been initiatives e.g. from World Summit on the Information Society, the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy work.
Previous studies on gender difference have identified that once the basic access (to ICT) issue has been addressed, there can be a second level of barriers to womens' ICT use. Whilst there may be no actual difference in capabilities between men and women, studies have shown that women have less confidence in their capabilities. There may be a "negative online auto-image" of women, affecting confidence and use.
The Brazilian Household Survey data showed that 74% of Brazilian young people had internet access; analysis by race showed that white households had more access than of those of people of colour. Looking at gender, in fact there was slightly more access by females than males. However males used computers (as opposed to phones) more than women.
In order to get to "second level" use, they looked at results from the Brazilian contribution to the Kids Online project . There were some things that boys did more than girls e.g. boys played games a lot more than girls, they shopped online and watched more online videos more than girls. Thus boys were having more fun online and pursuing everyday purposes online. Girls were using online more for communication purposes (from memory, there are similar results from UK studies, though I don't think there's so big a gap as regards gaming). Finally, girls had less confidence in their online skills than boys.
Thus boys had a better self image, although girls were appropriating the technology in particular ways to do with communicating, posting photos etc.