Women are more likely to experience digital overload due to work-family demands

When it comes to juggling the use of digital technology for both work and family, women are at greater risk than men of ‘digital overload’, according to new Lancaster University research.

The study, which has important implications for the unequal division of digital labor between the sexes, highlights that women are more likely than men to frequently use information and communication technologies (ICTs) both at work and in family life.

This “digital double burden” of work and family increases the potential risk of “digital overload and burnout” for women.

The new research, led by Lancaster University’s Professor Yang Hu, in collaboration with Professor Yue Qian from the University of British Columbia in Canada, examines gender and digital work in 29 countries and is published in the journal Community, Work & Family”.

Digital work involves using a variety of digital tools and platforms, such as Zoom and WhatsApp, to complete daily work and household tasks.

As the pandemic has greatly accelerated the progress of digitization, people are increasingly using ICT for business and family communication after COVID-19.

As the frequent use of ICT requires time and effort, it constitutes a new form of work. Our study examined gender disparities in the performance of such a digital task.”

Yang Hu, Professor, Lancaster University

The cross-national study uses the latest data from the European Social Survey and examines how people maintain digital communication for work and family in 29 countries (including the UK).

They limited the sample to 6,654 employed respondents aged 30-59 who have at least one child (aged 12 and over) and at least one living parent to examine respondents’ ICT use for both work and family.

They found:

• A typical ‘digital double burden’ between work and family – women are 1.6 times more likely than men to juggle digital communication both at work and at home.

• The traditional gendered division of labor in work and family life extends to digital work performance – women are 31% less likely than men to have high digital communication only for work, but are 2.6 times more likely than men to have a high family. digital communication only.

• In the UK, 42% of respondents have dual digital work-family communication of medium to high quality, which is lower than the average of 48% across the 29 countries surveyed. Therefore, respondents in the UK are less burdened by the dual digital (communications) work of work and family life compared to respondents from, for example, Norway (59%), Spain (54%) and Serbia (65%).

• UK respondents have one of the highest rates of digital communication only for work, with 30% having a high level of digital (communication) work only for work but not for family life. This is one of the highest of the 29 countries examined (only behind Israel’s 31%).

“Policymakers, educators and practitioners are investing heavily in building digital capacity globally in many societies,” said Professor Hu.

“Our findings show that among people with higher levels of digital literacy and in countries where people use the internet more heavily, women are particularly more likely than men to experience the ‘digital double burden.’

Professor Qian added: “The findings urge policymakers, educators and practitioners to integrate gender issues into their efforts to build digital capability. Women’s gain in digital literacy should not come at the cost of juggling those of heavy digital burden in both professional and family life.”

After the pandemic, working from home is becoming more and more common.

The study’s findings also show that frequent work from home exacerbates the “double digital burden” that falls disproportionately on women’s shoulders.

While working from home offers workers the flexibility to meet work and family responsibilities, it is also becoming a critical new site of gender inequality in digital work.