En portada: WOMEN'S RIGHTS & GENDER EQUALITY

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are seen as necessary ingredients for economic and social development in the so-called ‘knowledge society’ and have attracted attention by governments, businesses, citizens and civil society organisations. They are tools with multiple functionalities providing ample opportunities for information and communication and having applicability in the entire sphere of economic, social, political and cultural life. Nonetheless, the availability of ICTs should not be taken for granted and their deployment presents variations according to individual, social and cultural characteristics. Disparities in access, capacity to use and ways of engagement with ICTs (the so-called digital divide) have also been on the EU and international policy agendas for quite some time. Such disparities have pronounced gendered dimensions and are generated by political, economic and socio-cultural factors but often by the nature of technology itself. They call for multi-level policy interventions in the areas of ICT access, education and digital skills, employment in ICT and related jobs, as well as matters related with the information content available and the ways of accessing it on the Internet.