The impacts of digital technology use and tourism expenditure on women’s family status: evidence from China

The status of women is an influential factor in supporting the stable development of families and societies. How to improve women’s status has become a focus in gender studies, with emerging digital technologies and tourism expenditure thought to have potential impacts. This research investigated relationships among digital technology use, tourism expenditure, and women’s family status using survey data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). The impacts were determined through developing baseline regression and stepwise regression models. The main findings were: (1) Digital technology use had a significant and positive effect on women’s family status, and there were differences among urban and rural areas; (2) digital technology use had a significant and positive effect on tourism expenditure, while tourism expenditure had a significant and positive effect on women’s family status; and (3) tourism expenditure partially mediated the positive effect of digital technology use on women’s family status.