# Digital Competence and Gender: Teachers in Training. A Case Study
## 4 Discussion and Conclusions  
The aim of the present study was to analyse gender differences in teacher trainees' self-perceptions of digital competence. The subject of gender and digital competence has been examined in several studies, but without reaching consensus [12; 24; 28; 29; 30; 36; 37; 38; 40; 41; 42; 44; 45].  
Nevertheless, most studies have found significant differences in digital competence between men and women, for example, women seem to be less competent [35], but some researchers do not find differences [20; 44; 45; 46; 47].  
According to the results obtained, the variable of gender affects many of the items in the COTAEDU, divided into the five DIGCOMP dimensions (information, communication, content creation, safety and problem-solving). Our results show that men reported having better information management and online collaboration skills using digital media. In addition, they made more use of computers as their sole device for browsing, downloading and streaming and felt more confident about solving problems with devices. In contrast, women reported making more use of mobile phones and were more familiar with social media and aspects related to image and text processing and graphic design. These findings suggest that women use technologies for social purposes while men use them more for technical or training purposes.  
Gender differences also emerged as regards interest in digital content, such as video games. Various authors have highlighted the potential utility of these to promote digital literacy and have reported that they are primarily used by men [51; 52; 53; 54; 55]. This could be related to the differences in digital competence observed between men and women.  
Concerning the limitations of the present study, this was conducted in a single faculty using a single instrument, which hinders generalisation of the results; however, this limitation is offset by the large size of the sample analysed. Another limitation is that the object of analysis is self-perception about own skills; real unobserved digital competence does not have to be equal to own self-perception [33; 43; 47].  
This and other analyses of digital competence and the second digital divide in society, especially about future teachers, provide an important point of departure for meeting the challenges of initial teacher training and serve as a foundation to promote significant changes in teacher training as a key pillar of education, giving an answer to the difficulties that they have to face during this stage of their professional development, including some material-technological issues [56].  
Some ideas about how to solve these differences on digital competence of future teachers are trying to measure real digital competence, and providing initial ICT courses (before university), more subjects focused on educational technology and increasing relevance of ICT in their initial formation and therefore.  
To sum up, digital competence of teachers (and teachers in training) is key for ICT implementation in the classrooms, and gender seems to be related (at least with self-perception).  
Conceptualization, Writing--original draft, M.G.-d.-P.; Data curation, Formal analysis, R.C.; Methodology, Writing--review and editing, S.G.-M.; Supervision, I.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research received no external funding. The authors declare no conflict of interest.