Uneven urban-rural digital dividends: A cross-sectional study on how internet use exacerbates quality of life disparities among Chinese women in extreme poverty.

OBJECTIVES: Existing research has not sufficiently addressed the specific associations between internet use and the quality of life (QoL) for women experiencing extreme poverty, particularly in relation to urban-rural disparities. This study seeks to fill this gap by investigating how internet use is associated with QoL among Chinese women in extreme poverty and explores its implications for urban-rural inequality.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study utilized data from 513 women living in extreme poverty from Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2021. Analytical techniques included Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, Recentered Influence Function (RIF) regression, and RIF decomposition.

RESULTS: (1) Significant urban-rural QoL inequalities were found among women in extreme poverty. (2) Internet use was significantly associated with higher QoL for the overall sample and the urban subsample, but showed no significant association for the rural subsample. (3) Internet use was associated with widened urban-rural QoL disparities, particularly among women at medium and upper-middle QoL levels. (4) Decomposition analysis revealed that internet use accounted for a substantial proportion (64.33%) of the total observed urban-rural QoL disparities.

CONCLUSION: Digital empowerment policies for women in extreme poverty in rural areas have greater potential and value in the future.