E-government services use among single Israeli mothers

ABSTRACT

Using data from Annual Social Surveys of the Central Bureau of Statistics, this article focuses on patterns of digital inequality among Israeli single mothers in 2014–19. Only half of single mothers in Israel used e-government services. A higher percentage of e-government use was found among high socioeconomic status (SES) single mothers, compared to their counterparts from low SES. Both groups preserve their pace of e-government adoption; so if the effective intervention strategies won’t be applied, the between-groups gaps will exist in the near future. In the context of digital inequality policy makers should address single mothers according to their social class.

KEYWORDS:

• Israel
• single mothers
• digital inequality
• e-government
• social class

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Searson and Johnson, “Transparency Laws and Interactive Public Relations,” 120–6; and Im et al., “Internet, Trust in Government, and Citizen Compliance,” 741–63.

2. Chadwick and May, “Interaction between States and Citizens in the Age of the Internet,” 271–300; and Carter et al., “Citizen Adoption of E-Government Services,” 124–40.

3. Lines et al., “Accessing E-Government Services,” 932–40; Mosehlana, “An E-Government Opportunity”; and O’Sullivan and Walker, “From the Interpersonal to the Internet,” 490–507.

4. Lee and Porumbescu, “Engendering Inclusive E-Government Use through Citizen IT Training Programs,” 69–76.

5. Compaine, The Digital Divide; and Hoffman and Novak, Bridging the Racial Divide on the Internet.

6. Helsper and Reisdorf, “The Emergence of a ‘Digital Underclass’”, 1253–70.

7. Helsper, “A Corresponding Fields Model for the Links between Social and Digital Exclusion,” 403–26; Norris, Digital Divide; Van Dijk, The Deepening Divide; and Witte and Mannon, The Internet and Social Inequalitites.

8. Helsper and Van Deursen, “Do the Rich Get Digitally Richer?” 700–14.

9. Li, “Mothers Left without a Man,”114–22; Maldonado and Nieuwenhuis, “Family Policies and Single Parent Poverty in 18 OECD Countries, 1978–2008,” 395–415.

10. Maldonado and Nieuwenhuis, “Family Policies and Single Parent Poverty in 18 OECD Countries, 1978–2008,” 395–415; Nieuwenhuis and Maldonado, “The Triple Bind of Single-parent Families,”1–30.

11. Sayer et al, “Are Single Mothers Time Poor?”

12. Treanor, “Income Poverty, Material Deprivation and Lone Parenthood,” 81–100.

13. de Lange and Dronkers, “Single Parenthood and Children’s Educational Performance,” 125.

14. Chant, “Poverty Begins at Home?”

15. Byun, “Middle-class Single Parents”; Nieuwenhuis and Maldonado, “The Triple Bind of Single-parent Families Resources,” 223–38; and Rowlingson and McKay, “Lone Motherhood and Socio-economic Disadvantage,” 30–49.

16. Scheerder et al., “Internet Use in the Home,” 2099–118; Hsieh et al., “Addressing Digital Inequality for the Socioeconomically Disadvantaged through Government Initiatives,” 233–53; and Bach et al., “Digital Human Capital,” 247–66.

17. Poushter, “Smartphone Ownership and Internet Usage Continues to Climb in Emerging Economies,” 22; and Natanzon et al., Single Parent Families in Israel.

18. Lissitsa and Madar, “Do Disabilities Impede the Use of Information and Communication Technologies?” 66; Lissitsa and Roth-Cohen, “The Decade of Online Shopping in the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Community,” 74–89; Lissitsa and Chachashvili-Bolotin, “Use of the Internet in Capital Enhancing Ways”; Mesch et al., “14 Explaining Digital Inequalities in Israel,” 222; Lissitsa and Chachashvili-Bolotin, “The Less You Know, the Better You’ll Sleep,” 754–61.

19. Lavee and Katz, “The Family in Israel,” 193–217; and Amit and Chachashvili-Bollotin, Ruppin Index for Immigrants’ Integration in Israel.

20. Sayer et al, “Are Single Mothers Time Poor?”; Ritblatt and Rosental, “Socioeconomic, Historical, and Cultural Context of Israel and Impact on the Families,” 363–79.

21. Natanzon et al., Single Parent Families in Israel.

22. Ibid.

23. United Nations E-Government Survey, In Support of Sustainable Development.

24. Wilson, “E-Government Legislation Meets the Poverty Threshold,” 74–83; and Zernik, “E-government in Israel-transformation into the Post-truth era,” 270.

25. See note 3 above.

26. Shah and Lim, “Using Social Media to Increase E-Government Adoption in Developing Countries,” 205–13; and Distel, “Bringing Light into the Shadows.”

27. Zernik, “E-government in Israel-transformation into the post-truth era,” 270.

28. Among the Israeli Arab female population, the percentage of single mothers with at least one child up to age 17 is estimated at less than 6% (N = 86) during the whole period (2014–2019), therefore we focused only on Jewish single mothers.

29. Hunsaker and Hargittai, “A Review of Internet Use among Older Adults,” 3937–54; Dobransky and Hargittai, “Unrealized Potential: Exploring the Digital Disability Divide,” 18–28; and Adkins and Sandy, “Information Behavior and ICT Use of Latina Immigrants to the US Midwest,” 1020–72.

30. Breen and Breen, Social Mobility in Europe.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sabina Lissitsa

Sabina Lissitsa is Associate Professor at the School of Communication, Ariel University, Israel.

Svetlana Chachashvili-Bolotin

Svetlana Chachashvili-Bolotin is a senior lecturer and researcher at the School of Social & Community Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel.