Digital Inequality and the Canadian Gender Gap.

Using the Canadian General Social Survey -- Cycle 14, I assess the utility of DiMaggio and Hargittai's digital inequality framework in explaining gender differences in Internet access and use in Canada. This framework is valuable in assessing the degrees of Internet access and use as well as the differential impacts of Internet use. Bivariate analysis reveals gender differences in all five dimensions of digital inequality -- technical means, social support, skills, autonomy of use, and Internet uses, specifically civic engagement. However, personal income and education mediate many of these relationships. While this multivariate analysis diminishes the strength of the relationship between gender and social support, autonomy of use and civic engagement, gender gaps in technical means and skills persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]