There is worldwide consensus on how important women are for development where gender equality is seen as a prerequisite for sustainable development. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are seen as one of the most promising tools for the empowerment of women in developing countries. Men and women therefore need to have equal opportunities to access and use ICTs. Here, the authors, however, find a huge gender gap, and the reasons for this gap are still not fully understood or investigated. The purpose of this study is therefore to further investigate the reasons for this gap in ICT use. Based on a review of existing literature, as well as interviews with men and women from developing countries, the main finding is that the impeding factor underlying all barriers described in the literature relates to social norms. Based on this insight, the authors end the paper by discussing implications for research and practice.