WhatsApp as a political information tool. Unequal practices between men and women in the digital field

Abstract

The unstoppable penetration and transversality that WhatsApp has brought about in the digital environment has changed our communicative habits, so it has become an object of study which shows that the digital gap is no longer limited to the access to new technologies alone. This study analyses the digital divide from a gender perspective, investigating the communicative practices that men and women carry out in order to be informed about the current political situation through WhatsApp. It uses a quantitative methodology focused on the design of a survey applied to 1,664 people in Spain. The study shows that men receive more political information through WhatsApp than women, and having the same widespread access to the use of the application, women comment and share less frequently than men.

KEYWORDS: digital divide, gender perspective, digital environment, WhatsApp, political information, credibility, Spain.