How gender is understood and analyzed in current egovernment research – a scoping literature review

Abstract

The division of gender into woman and man is controversially discussed in social discourse. Different approaches and proposed solutions are thereby addressed in the public debate. Building on that, this paper examines the prevailing understanding of gender in egovernment research by means of a scoping literature review. The results show that although a binary understanding is prevalent in the studies examined, there is by no means a uniform understanding of gender. It has also been shown that gender is often considered in data collection but neglected in analysis. It remains to be seen how egovernment research can respond appropriately to this social discourse without forfeiting scientific principles such as those of consistent definitions.