Digital transformation and gender justice: a paradoxical regime of persistent inequalities

Purpose This paper critically analyses Portuguese public policies for gender equality in the digital sphere (2017-2025) and documents gender inequality trends in the sector, as crucial ethical and societal dimensions of technologies. This paper aims to analyse the initial integration and later weakening of gender equality in digital transformation policies. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a mixed-methods design, drawing on empirical evidence from the project Women4Digital − Gender Equality in the Digital Transition in Portugal: what place for Women? It combines systematic mapping and qualitative document analysis of policy frameworks with a quantitative analysis of gender inequalities trends in ICT employment, based on administrative linked employer-employee data set (2007-2023), and qualitative data gathered from two focus groups. Findings Quantitative evidence confirms sizeable structural inequalities: women represent only around 21% of employment in ICT occupations, are markedly underrepresented in executive roles, and face more precarious working conditions. Policy cycles (2017-2025) peaked in 2021 by embedding EU funding conditionalities for structural change, followed by an institutional slowdown characterised by a shift back towards reinforcing symbolic “fix the women” approaches. Critical governance gaps persist: major investments are gender-blind, and new regulatory regimes risk undermining ethical enforcement against gendered online harms. Originality/value By framing digital regulation as a gendered institutional site, this paper brings feminist policy analysis into direct dialogue with digital ethics. It provides an original, longitudinal account of gender inequality trends that distinguishes ICT occupations from ICT-sector firms, while interrogating whether EU-driven digital governance architectures enable or constrain an inclusive, ethical and gender-just digital transformation. In doing so, it also shows how ethical and gender-blind design persists in fast-growing policy domains such as platform regulation, AI governance and cybersecurity.