Bridging the digital gender divide: is digital literacy truly an equalizer for female students across different demographic factors?

Purpose The main aim of the study is to assess the digital literacy (DL) skills among female students in two renowned public universities in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach An online quantitative survey method was conducted at two public universities in Bangladesh. A total of 375 female students responded to the survey. Different descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to analysis the collecting data and nonparametric Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were conducted to see the differences in students awareness and proficiency level in DL skills in terms of age, institutions, educational level and academic background. Spearman’s rho correlation was measured to see the relationships between students’ awareness level and purposes of DL. Finally, an ordinal logistic regression model was also applied to estimate the impact of demographics and DL skills level on the frequency of engaging in DL activities. Findings The study found that most of the female students have a high level of awareness and good proficiency in DL skills. Maximum students used DL for academic purposes and they were highly aware in social media literacy. Demographic variables had a significant effect on students’ awareness and proficiency level of DL skills. The results of ordinal logistic regression model revealed that humanities students had a statistically significant lower chance of engaging in DL than business students. A highly significant positive relationship (rho > 0.7, p < 0.01) was found between student’s awareness level and purpose of using DL. Moreover, findings identified lack of e-resources, inadequate training facilities, rapid technological changes, cultural and gender issues etc. as primary challenges faced female students when obtaining DL skills. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, this study is the first attempt to analysis female student’s awareness and proficiency level of DL skills in Bangladeshi public higher institutions.