The reproduction of gender inequalities and differentiating practices in digital citizenship education: an empirical study

Abstract

This article explores the mechanisms of reproduction and transformation of gender relations in digital citizenship education within the Swiss French-speaking school context. The ethnographic study, conducted in eight primary school classes (pupils aged 8 to 12), analyses the distribution of interactions and differentiated relationships to digital knowledge. Observations reveal a preferential recognition of boys as legitimate holders of technical skills, who occupy a central place in exchanges during sessions devoted to computer science. Girls are more subject to regulations focusing on the expressive and relational dimensions of their online practices, particularly on social networks. Pedagogical interactions, whether or not they stem from an explicit differentiating intention, perpetuate certain gendered assignments by structuring access to speech and the recognition of skills. The analysis thus calls for attention to the discrete processes of reproducing inequalities in the development of digital citizenship.