Gender and Technology

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Gender andTechnology

• By April Thomas

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Women and ComputersIs the World Big Enough for
Both?
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Key Issues

• Lack of Access
• Illiteracy
• Male Dominance in Employment
• Gender-related Usage
• Progressive Measures

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Access

• Highly unequal in different geographic regions
  and social groups
• Has led to increased marginalization of
  technological resources for deprived minorities,
  especially women
• Has resulted in inability of women to orient new
  technology to their specific needs

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Illiteracy

• Approximately one billion people are illiterate
  two thirds of them are women
• Little or no exposure to training and/or
  technical assistance
• Difficulty in overcoming various language
  barriers leads women to abandon ICT
• Social and cultural attitudes discourage the
  education and advancement of women

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Male Dominance in Employment

• Recent U.S. reports show women earned 1/2
  associate degrees in comp-sci, 1/3 bachelor
  degrees, and 13 PhDs awarded YET,
• 92 computer science and engineering faculty are
  male
• One third of the computer science departments
  polled employed NO women (stats from the CPSR)

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Gender-related Usage

• Men and women have different styles and
  communicative ethics in their use of the internet
• Men are often found to debate in an adversarial
  and self-promoting manner. Flaming is a common
  occurrence
• Women tend to be supportive and open-minded in
  their interactions
  
  

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Progressive Measures

• On the International Level
• Promotion of equality of women in international
  decision making relating to communications
  infrastructure and access (FWCW)
• Greater focus on depressed regions of the South
  based on more North/South dialogue with worldwide
  gender equality organizations
• Facilitation of the dissemination of info about
  technology such that it reaches women not
  directly linked to the Internet

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Progressive Measures (contd)

• On the National Level
• Promotion of forms of higher education with
  increased gender-sensitivity in the technological
  realm
• Implementation of programs that increase
  knowledge about careers in information technology
  which are available to women
• Increase participation in women-centered
  interactions to augment confidence in voicing
  ones opinion online. Womensnet Discussion Groups