Background
Technological change and digitization are leading to significant changes in modern societies. The ever-advancing use of computers or the digital transformation of the industrial sector have the potential to reduce long-standing gender inequalities in the education system and the labor market. However, the movement towards gender equity in the labor market has considerably slowed down and surprisingly, it seems that digitization even contributes to gender inequality.

Objective
Against this backdrop, the research group GenDiT is analyzing how and under what conditions digitization affects gender inequality. The aim is to uncover and understand larger theoretical connections that exist between structural changes such as digitization and social inequality in education, choice of study, employment and pay. In particular, the role of organizations and institutions –for example, schools or companies– is examined.
The Emmy Noether Junior Research Group is funded by the DFG with 1.4 million euros for a period of six years and is located at LIfBi in Bamberg. Cooperations with the Nuremberg Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the Otto Friedrich University Bamberg as well as the University of California Irvine, the University of Haifa, Sciences Po in Paris and New York University are planned.

Approach and Methods
For their analyses, the researchers draw on longitudinal data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), administrative data from the Integrated Employment Biographies (IEB), and experimental data collection. The latter consists of computer-assisted text analysis of job vacancy ads from newspaper archives in order to trace the digital transformation in working life. Also planned are experimental surveys using a vignette design.
During the funding period, specific research projects are planned in the areas of "Digitization and Gender Inequality in the Education System," "Gender Inequality in Access to Digital Jobs," and "Gender Inequality and Power Relations in Digital Organizations."

Project profile
Head: Dr. Malte Reichelt
Funding period:  Jan 2023 – Dez 2028
Funding: Emmy Noether Program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Contact: gendit@lifbi.de

Project website (external): www.malte-reichelt.com/gendit/

Prof. Dr. Malte Reichelt has taken up the junior professorship for Computational Social Science with a focus on Social Dynamics at the Friedrich-Alexander Univrsität Erlangen-Nürnberg on June 01, 2023. Since then, the Emmy-Noether Research Group has been based at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. The close cooperation with LIfBi will be maintained.

Cooperation partners

Prof. Dr. Silke Anger (IAB)
Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel (Universität Bamberg)
Prof. Dr. Corinna Kleinert (LIfBi)
Dr. Basha Vicari (IAB)
Prof. Philipp Brandt, Ph.D. (Sciences Po)
Prof. Siwei Cheng, Ph.D. (New York University)
Prof. Matt Huffman, Ph.D. (UC Irvine)
Prof. Tali Kristal, Ph.D. (University of Haifa)
Prof. Andrew Penner, Ph.D. (UC Irvine)