How digital empower: The impact of internet use on the gender wage gap

Abstract As the process of informatization deepens, the widespread adoption of the internet has increasingly enabled women to challenge gender discrimination in the labor market, thereby narrowing the wage gap with men. This study utilizes data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to examine the impact of internet use on gender wage gap, further exploring the heterogeneity and underlying mechanisms of this effect. The findings reveal the following: First, internet use effectively reduces the gender wage gap. Second, it achieves this reduction through three key pathways—mitigating industry segregation, occupational segregation and positional segregation. Third, the effect of internet use in narrowing gender wage gap is particularly pronounced in the central and western regions, rural areas, among younger individuals, those with medium-to-low education levels, and low-income labor groups. Accordingly, this study suggests accelerating the popularize of digital technologies, enhancing women’s digital skills training, promoting flexible employment and remote work opportunities, and advocating for salary transparency as measures to ensure gender wage equality.