Analyzing the Egyptian rural women's experiences of digital divide

In recent years, Egypt has witnessed digital evolution that is characterized by substantial increases in internet penetration, enhanced connection speeds, and expanded social media engagement. Despite the government’s efforts to increase internet access, disparities persist in how rural women utilize, benefit from, and engage with digital technologies. Despite growing literature on the digital divide, relatively few studies in Egypt have focused specifically on rural women’s lived experiences. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate a research question, namely: What are the rural women’s experiences of digital divide in Egypt? Informed by van Dijk’s ’Accumulative and Recursive’ model, this study focused on the first and second levels of digital divide whereby motivational and material access address the first level of digital divide and skills and usage access address the second level of digital divide. The study used the qualitative method of interviews (face-to-face), and analyzed the interview data using deductive thematic analysis. This study found that a lack of motivational and material access for rural women in Egypt is not merely a technical infrastructure issue but a foundational inequality that cascades into skill deprivation, limited usage, and long-term social exclusion. Addressing these issues requires not only expanding the internet connectivity and ICT device availability, but also tackling household power dynamics and gendered constraints that shape who can meaningfully use digital technologies.