Gender

1
Gender Information Technology Issues Theories

• Prof. Eileen M. Trauth, PhD
• Faculty of Information Sciences and Technology
  (Informatik)
• Associate Dean
• The Pennsylvania State University
• etrauth_at_ist.psu.edu

2
Course Introduction

• What subject do you study?
• What work will you do?
• Why do you take this course?
• One important question about gender and technik?

3
Course Format

• Lecture
• Reading assignments
• Questions
• Email, after class, Stephen
• Exam

4
Course Goals

• Gender imbalance in information economy
• Under representation of females
• Over representation of males
• Why should we care?

5
The Information Economy
Information Society
Information Economy
Primary Information Sector - Producers
Secondary Information Sector Consumers
HW, SW, systems/services Content IT people
6
Course Goals

• Critical examination of gender theories to
  understand observations about gender IT
  imbalance
• Using gender theories for critical examination of
  gender issues related to technik
• Recommendations to address issues

7
Evolution of Information Society

• 1950s computer
• 1960s Marshal McLuhan, medium is the
• message, information
• 1970s Daniel Bell, post-industrial society,
• information economy
• 1980s ICT, end user computing
• 1990s WWW, Internet, National Information
• Infrastructure
• 2000s globalization, e-society, e-inclusion

8
Information Society in AustriaBundespressedienst
Vienna, 2005

• the rapid increase in use of information and
  communication technologies (ICT) for collecting,
  communicating, disseminating and exploiting
  information
• By 2015 about four fifths of all human work will
  consist of handling information

9
Information Society in Austria7 Key Themes

• 1 Preventing digital division (e-inclusion)
• 2 Infrastructure
• 3 Modern, service-oriented public
• administration
• 4 More competitive SMEs through ICT
• 5 ICT literacy
• 6 Security of ICT applications
• 7 High quality Austrian e-content

10
Information Society in Austria Gender
e-Inclusion

• eEurope Action Plan 2005 focuses above all on
  users, male and female. At all levels and for all
  activities full social participation is
  paramount

11
Information Society in AustriaGender
e-Inclusion

• Opportunities to participate may vary from
  person to person because of socioeconomic
  (income, ancestry, education) and sociocultural
  (gender) barriers.

12
Information Society in AustriaGender
e-Inclusion

• For various reasons women are under represented
  both in research and development and also in
  founding new companies concerned with the
  application of the new ICT technologies.
• 63 of men and 50 of women over 14 years are
  online (2005)

13
Information Society in AustriaGender
e-Inclusion initiatives

• EQUAL EU initiative to fight discrimination and
  inequality in the labor market has specific
  programs to support women and ICT
• Austrian regional initiatives
• Women ICT in Burgenland, ICT awareness
• ABZ Vienna, ICT reentry
• NOWA, Graz womens network
• IT4HER, Austrian Computer Society, careers in ICT

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The Gender ICT Problem

• What is the current problem of gender ICT (in
  research application)?
• Why should we care
• (for research application)?

15
The Problem of Gender ICT

• Women are not minorities in the US population
• In 2004, women accounted for
• 59.2 of the population over 16
• 56 of the labor force (U.S. Bureau of Labor
  Statistics 2005)
• Female participation increasing in some
  historically male-dominated professions (US)
• Legal 9.5 female (1971) to 44.4 (1996)

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The Problem of Gender ICT

• The representation of women in the IT profession
  is declining (ITAA, 2005, 2003)
• Women are less likely to return to the IT
  profession after the dot.com bust (ITAA, 2005)

100
59
65
68
75
50
41
35
25
32
0
1996 2002 2004
Year
Men Women
Source (ITAA, 2005 2003)
17
The Gender ICT Problem

• The Problem for Application
• Women are under represented with respect to
  information communications technology (ICT)
  design, development application
• Are women under served with respect to ICT use?

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The Gender ICT Problem

• Why should we care?
• Addressing ICT worker shortages
• (Gender) diversity innovation
• (Gender) diversity economic development
• Diversity of products services
• Increasing social inclusion social access,
  decreasing digital gap

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The Gender ICT Problem

• The Problem for Research
• Providing the quantitative qualitative data to
  support the gender inequality claims
• Developing testing theoretically-informed,
  empirically-grounded interventions to equalize
  gender representation in production and
  consumption of ICT

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The Gender ICT Problem

• Why we should care
• Choosing an appropriate theoretical lens for
  critically understanding this data
• Theory shedding constructive light on the issue
  or reinforcing unproductive negative
  stereotypes?

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Gendered Technology?

• Is technology ( ICT) gender neutral?
• What is needed to overcome the gender imbalance
  in technological areas?

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Course Content
The dimensions of the gender ICT
problem Gender technology concepts Gender
theories used to understand gender technology
relations Gender theory information
technology Application of gender ICT theory
to critically analyze key issues -
socio-cultural influences on gender - gender
ICT education - gender ICT workforce -
gender, ICT power - gender, ICT work-life
balance
23
Dimensions of the Gender ICT Problem

• Interviews with 123 women working in the US ICT
  field (2002-2006)
• Some prevalent gender discourses encountered by
  American women who work in the ICT field
  throughout their personal and professional
  development

24
Gender Discourses

• Domestic responsibilities
• Female Career opportunities
• IT as a masculine profession
• For each discourse a variety of responses
  were identified, as were influences on the women
  that shed light on this variation

25
Gender Discourse Domestic Responsibilities
Women should sacrifice their careers for domestic
responsibilities discourse varies by sexual
orientation, marital status, parenthood status
Typically, the societal message is that the
family obligations take precedence over the
professional obligation. I think typically the
societal view is that when the woman has a child
she should stay home and take care of them. The
male would be the financial supporter. Francie
26
Gender Discourse Female Career Opportunity

• Gendered constraints on careers discourse
  varies by age, race and socio-economic status
• I had a 4.0 grade point average coming out of
  high school, but I was not directed toward one of
  the mainstream universities. I think there are a
  lot of factors affecting that, race being one of
  them. Joanne
• My parents both always told me you can be
  anything you want as long as you work hard and
  you are smart. Teri

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Gender Discourse IT as a Masculine Profession
Suitability of women for the IT profession -
discourse varies by race, local culture It is
hard to fix the perception of IT work because
girls are hearing all kinds of crappy things all
the time. We need someone who can make us see
that IT is not this horrifying ocean of geekdom.
It is not that bad. There are lots of really cool
women in IT. It is not all freaks. That is the
biggest concern of high school girls. Put
yourself in their shoes, what were you like in
high school when you were sixteen? It is not
cute to be associated with geeks. In my high
school the only people who were into computers
were those creepy guys. There were like two or
three creepy, unwashed, acne-filled guys.
Nobody wanted to have anything to do with them.
Debbie.
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Technology as Masculine Culture

• Questioning self-evident link between masculinity
  and technology
• Critical examination needed
• Traditional conception of technology heavily
  weighted against women
• Technology as individual machinery (auto)
• Diminish significance of traditionally female
  technologies
• Horticulture, cooking, sewing, cleaning, child
  care
• Reproduce stereotype of female as technologically
  ignorant

29
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Identification of technology with manliness
• Not inherent in characteristics of biological
  sex?
• Essentialist arguments that dont hold up to
  deeper scrutiny (procedural knowledge in
  programming cooking sewing)
• Male scientists substituting for their lack of
  feminine procreative power?
• The creation of science and weapons compensating
  for inability to give birth to humans
• Sexual and birth metaphors used

30
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Technological enterprise as masculine realm is
  consistent with male domination of all powerful
  institutions
• i.e. not something specific to technology that is
  related to biological sex
• Social (i.e. historical cultural) construction
  of gender and of technology
• Social construction of technology (SCOT)
• Social study of technology (SST)
• Science technology studies (STS)

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Technology as Masculine Culture

• Masculine obsession with control
• Early history of computing gender neutral
• Ada Lovelace programming
• Grace Hopper programming
• Modern history of computing masculine
• Soul of a New Machine minicomputers
• The Right Stuff test pilots
• competitive rivalry
• compulsive dedication to perfect computer
• no space for life outside of work

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Technology as Masculine Culture

• Hackers as male culture of mastery
  individualism
• Addition to mastery rather than programming
• Metaphors of power domination
• Masculine sexuality
• Heroes of the stories always men
• Excitement of working on newest computer
  expressed in sexual terms
• 72 hours with girl of your dreams
• Women absent from the stories

33
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Women at home providing backdrop for men free to
  pursue great projects
• Social construction of men having the luxury of
  being single minded
• A Room of Ones Own (Virginia Woolf)
  Shakespeares sister

34
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Does it have to be this way?
• Are these features (e.g. domination, control,
  obsession) necessarily ones that are inherent in
  the process of technological development?
• Can women relate to this approach?
• Do all men relate to this approach?
• Social construction of gender

35
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Forms of masculinity
• Different forms of masculinity related to
  different areas of technology
• Both masculinity and femininity taking on
  culturally and historically diverse forms
• Ethnicity/race/nationality
• Culture
• History
• Generations

36
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Forms of masculinity
• Hegemonic masculinity (Vorherrschaft)
• Culturally dominant forms of masculinity
• The dominant discourse (media, stereotypes, etc.)
• Not necessarily how everyone behaves
• Aggressiveness capacity for violence (Western
  masculinity)
• Based on physical toughness and mechanical skills
• Relates to industrial era, working class context
• Association with manual labor machinery
• Dirt, noise, danger

37
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Extent to which control of technology is embedded
  in hegemonic masculinity
• warrior ethic of heroic masculinity
• Technology military link
• Context of development application of
  technology
• Defense support for ICT research development
• Closeness to physical danger as epitome of manly
  daring
• (soldier, explorer, adventurer)

38
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Females as unsuitable for the military
  constitutionally disposed toward peace
• Some feminists reinforcing traditional models of
  masculinity femininity
• Facts about warfare suggest otherwise
• Historical role of women in military warfare?

39
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Hegemonic masculinity vs. subordinated or
  marginalized forms of masculinity
• Examples?
• Hegemonic masculinity vs. marginalized
  construction of femininity
• Emotional, weak, less analytical
• Inferior to men
• Soft, nurturing
• Ill-suited to technological pursuits

40
Technology as Masculine Culture

• As we have seen repeatedly, technology is more
  than a set of physical objects or artifacts. It
  also fundamentally embodies a culture or set of
  social relations made up of certain sorts of
  knowledge, beliefs, desires and practices.
• Treating technology as a culture has enabled us
  to see the way in which technology is expressive
  of masculinity and how, in turn men
  characteristicaly view themselves in relation to
  these machines. (p. 149)

41
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Technology femininity
• Formal informal mechanisms that reproduce the
  cultural stereotype of women as technologically
  incapable or invisible
• Association of technology with physical strength
• Size of microcomputers
• The potential of computers to change stereotypes

42
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Computers as reinforcing gender relations in
  technology
• Societal institutions reinforce masculinity with
  machines and technological competence
• Schools Link between education and gender
  divisions in the labor market
• Computers conceptually linked to (gendered) math
  and science
• The gendered realm of machinery
• Harassment of females interested in computers

43
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Gendered game software
• Mass media images of computing with males
• Public policy anti ( positive) gender
  discrimination legislation
• Positive effects critical mass
• Negative effects reinforce qualifications
  stereotype

44
Technology as Masculine Culture

• The psychological argument sex-based cognitive
  differences (Sherry Turkle)
• Vs. the cultural argument
• Males fascination with the machine itself
• hard masters top down, abstract, rule follower
• Competitive, impose will on the machine
• Females only interested in application
• Soft masters bottom up, concrete, tinkerer
• Cooperative, interact negotiate with machine
• Feminist view this difference not equated with
  inferiority

45
Technology as Masculine Culture

• The psychological argument rebuttal
• Reminiscent of (now discredited) stereotype of
  women as too emotional, irrational and illogical
  to do mathematics
• Purely psychological explanations neglect the
  historical and cultural context of computing
  education
• Previous research on gender and mathematics shows
  girls as rule followers
• Programming was originally a female pursuit
• ENIAC girls

46
Technology as Masculine Culture

• Although studies do find evidence of differences
  between the sexes, the variation within the sexes
  is more important than the differences between
  them (p. 157).

47
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• One of the first papers on gender and science
• Research conducted in early-mid 1970s
• Influencing the education of those who are
  currently working in science and technology
• Gendering of ICT is part of a larger and longer
  pattern of gendering
• Science is gendered (masculine)
• Technology adopted pattern of gendering of
  science (masculine)
• ICT adopting pattern of gendering of technology
• ICT as masculine

48
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Shows how long the issue of gender and
  science/technology has been with us
• Shows how deeply embedded is the gendering of
  science/technology
• Themes that arose in 1977 that are still here in
  2008

49
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Bringing to light the hidden support upon which
  science depends (i.e. beyond universities,
  funding agencies, publication outlets)
• An enlightened view - the role of wife and
  family is important
• Within this enlightened view male scientists as
  the norm female scientists as the exception

50
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists
the developing of the personality of the young
scientistthe strain of his economic situation..
effects upon his marriage the increasing
monastic absorption of the man, and the wifes
early fading and gradual loss of vitality and of
confidence in herself as a woman the lives of
prominent scientists and their wives and
childrendemonstratethe high price paid by these
civilian expendables
51
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• A substantial proportion of high school women
  have negative images of scientists
• And therefore indicate that they would not want
  to marry a scientist
• Do the wives of scientists have different images
  of scientists than other women?
• Substantial evidence that scientists are strongly
  masculine in their orientation

52
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Interviews with 14 male scientists and their
  wives
• 8 wives are scientists
• 6 wives are not scientists
• Discussion about the life of a scientists, gender
  stereotypes, differences among the two groups of
  women
• Motivated by earlier research on moon scientists

53
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Life as a scientist or scientists spouse
• Women scientists acknowledge social educational
  barriers to women becoming scientists non
  scientists dont
• Exclusion from old boys network
• When women achieve people are surprised
• National Research Council rejected application
  We dont hire women
• I dont know of any woman scientists who hasnt
  run into prejudice
• I wasnt allowed to observe because I was told
  women are too weak to work on the mountain.

54
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Perceptions about self spouse regarding gender
  stereotypes
• Scientists as hypermasculine more masculine
  than adult man
• Scientists, male, female
• Aggressive
• Independent
• Active
• Objective
• Competitive
• Logical
• Thinks men are always superior to women
• Scientists tied with men

55
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Female scientists challenging gender stereotypes
  Female scientists, male scientists, female non
  scientists
• Logical
• Ambitious
• Women are always superior to men

56
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists
women have not flocked to experimental physical
science in increasing numbers as opportunities
for higher education for women have been more
nearly equalized. In other words, it may not be a
social factor lack of opportunity for women in
science but rather a personality factor lack
of interest in physical science among women -
which accounts for the small number of female
physical scientists. (McClelland, 1970)
57
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Impact of gender on women scientists
• role conflict
• affirming traditional male values (objective,
  dispassionate) -scientist
• affirming traditional female values (emotional
  concern)
• responsible for emotional life of family
• twin roles that male scientists didnt face
• women faced uphill battle for equality in science

58
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Womens liberation movement
• Female scientists are more liberal than male
  scientists and female non scientists
• Female scientists are significantly more
  liberal regarding the womens liberation
  movement

59
On the Shoulders of the Spouses of Scientists

• Issues from 1977 that exist in 2008
• explicit discrimination diminished
• Implicit barriers remain
• Educational social barriers for women
  scientists/technologists
• Old boys network
• When women achieve people are surprised
• IT field hypermasculinized
• Structural barriers translated into lack of
  interest

60
Science Technology as Masculine Culture

• Is the Austrian workplace gendered?
• Is science technology in Austria gendered?
• Is ICT (production or consumption) in Austria
  gendered?
• For each question
• If yes, evidence
• If no, evidence

61
Science Technology as Masculine Culture

• Social construction of masculinity femininity
  in Austria in relation to ICT in the
  post-industrial era?
• does it need to change?

62
Theorizing Gender and TechnologyReflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Theorizing the relationship between gender and
  technology
• Using a worldview about gender and technology in
  order to understand and explain observations
• First astronauts were women right stuff but
  wrong sex
• Nothing natural or inevitable about technology
  identified as masculine, masculinity defined as
  technical competence

63
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• History of gender and technology studies
• Feminist technology study motivated by critique
  of gender blindness of Marxism
• Gender is an important factor in organization of
  work resulting from technological change
• Labor process as much influenced by gender as
  class
• Marxism ignoring unpaid labor done by women in
  the home
• Now being recognized as people have to pay for
  it!

64
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Feminist technology study motivated by second
  wave feminism
• womens liberation movement of 1970s 1980s
• Developing womens technological capacity
• Part of consciousness raising
• Focus on power relations
• Technology as an application area

65
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Feminist studies of technology
• How technological developments reproduce gender
  hierarchies
• Example word processor
• Vs. How gender relations could be transformed by
  new technology
• Example administrative assistant
• Need to pay attention to womens agency vs.
  passive victims of technology
• Example new jobs opening up as technology
  displaces old ones

66
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Social Construction of Technology (SCOT)
• Technological artifacts subject to sociological
  analysis
• Steam powered automobiles
• Different groups of people can have very
  different understandings of that technology
• Guns
• Artifact plus context/culture
• Mobile phone
• Feminist theories not incorporated into
  technology theories
• Technology diffusion

67
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Actor-network theory
• Technology and society are mutually constitutive
• i.e. mutually construct each other
• Examples?
• User interacts with artifact and can challenge
  and renegotiate meaning and use of artifact
• Example telephone how?
• Feminist theories not incorporated into
  technology theories
• Men set up as norm against which women are
  measured and found wanting

68
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• In contemporary Western society, hegemonic
  masculinity, the culturally dominant form of
  masculinity, is still strongly associated with
  technical prowess and power.
• Can we change this?
• Should we change this?
• How would we change this?

69
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Feminist Science Technology Society Research
• Early studies of gender technology theorized
  gender as a fixed and unitary phenomenon, which
  exists independently of technology
• Sex gender

70
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Poststructuralist feminist scholars gender is
  not fixed in advance of social interaction
• Gender constructed through interaction
• Gender as a social construction
• Sex not gender
• Gender is performed
• Gender as doing vs. being

71
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Why
• Gender identities can change
• Broader acceptance of gender identities
• Gender variation by country/culture
• Examples?
• Gender identity in virtual space
• Biological sex can change
• Transgendered individuals

72
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Conclusion
• Neither masculinity, femininity nor technology
  are fixed, unitary categories
• Can contain multiple possibilities and are
  constructed in relation to each other
• Rejection of technophobia evident in earlier
  feminist writing

73
Theorizing Gender and Technology Reflections on
Gender Technology Studies In What State is the
Art?

• Conclusion
• Cyberfeminism technology as a source of
  empowerment for women
• Most research still focuses on how technology
  shapes gender relations, not how gender relations
  can shape the design of technologies
• Examples of gender relations shaping technology
  design?

74
Gender ICT Research Under Theorization

• Pre-theoretical research
• Compiling statistics on gender differences in
  adoption, use involvement in IT field
• No gender theory used to inform research
• No theory used to understand results
• Theoretical insights about technology diffusion,
  organizational change, etc. not informed
  by gender theory

75
Gender ICT Research Under Theorization

• Implicit-theoretical research
• Research interpretations guided by
  theory-in-use
• Not explicitly articulated
• Difficult to discuss, challenge, or test
• Typically a theory of inherent gender differences
• Essentialist gender-based, inherent
  bio-psychological differences (e.g. technical
  aptitude)
• Social constructivist gender roles imposed on
  women by society, monolithically (e.g. domestic
  roles)
• Perpetrating negative stereotypes

76
Gender ICT Research Under Theorization

• Insufficient-theoretical research
• Essentialist social construction theories do
  not adequately account for the variation in mens
  and womens relationships to information
  technology and the IT field
• Need for new theoretical insights to guide
  research and the development of interventions
• Probing space between the extremes of nature and
  nurture
• Need for bridge between feminist technology
  theories, and application to IT context

77
Individual Differences Theory of Gender IT
Field testing theoretical claims about
within-gender differences in exposure,
experience, response to gender relations in IT
field A Field Study of Individual Differences in
the Social Shaping of Gender and IT (NSF
2002-2007) Exploration of the Effects of Race,
Ethnicity and Socio-economic Class on Gender
Stereotyping (NSF 2007-2010)
78
Theorizing Gender DifferencesThe Concept of
Difference

• Difference between men and women
• Source essentialism or social construction
• The eternal female
• Assumptions about womens language, culture,
  personality
• Psychic, social and cultural separate spheres
  for men women
• Men have one reality, women have another
• Criticism categories of women and men seen
  as monolithic and unproblematic

79
Theorizing Gender DifferencesThe Concept of
Difference

• Difference as experiential diversity
• Difference within women rather than between men
  and women
• Reaction to essentialism of male-female
  difference
• Reaction to earlier feminist claims to equally
  represent all women, to speak with one voice
• Recognition of diverse social experiences
• Race gender
• Examples?
• Class gender
• Examples?

80
Theorizing Gender DifferencesThe Concept of
Difference

• Other types of difference being acknowledged as
  affecting gender
• Nation
• Region ethnicity
• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Disability
• Religion
• Examples???

81
Theorizing Gender DifferencesFeminist
Standpoint Theory

• We should trust the perspective of the subjugated
  or marginalized person
• i.e. women should tell the story of womens
  oppression
• Situated knowledge
• Embodied knowledge
• Therefore, privilege the viewpoint of the
  oppressed
• Agree?????

82
Theorizing Gender Differences Individual
Differences Theory of Gender IT(Trauth)

• Theoretical guidance for conducting
  within-gender
• research
• Addresses challenges to other theoretical
• assumptions
• Focus on differences within rather than between
  
• genders
• Examines group issues at individual level of
• analysis

83
Theorizing Gender Differences Individual
Differences Theory of Gender IT

• Challenging assumptions
• Essentialist theory inherent (bio/psychological)
  
• differences between men and women explain
• the participation level of women in IT
• Rebuttal successful female IT professionals
• in a range of countries

84
Theorizing Gender Differences Individual
Differences Theory of Gender IT

• Challenging assumptions
• Social construction theory the social shaping of
  technology as a male domain explains the
  participation level of women in IT
• Rebuttal varying definitions of masculine and
  feminine domains by individuals and
  socio-cultural context
• - when/where is programming womens work?

85
Theorizing Gender Differences IT

• Essentialism
• Sex-based biological/psychological determinants
• Focus on between-gender differences
• Social Constructionism
• Societal determinants
• Focus on between-gender differences
• Individual Differences Theory of Gender IT
• Individual biological/psychological influences
• Individual societal influences
• Focus on within-gender not between-gender
  differences

86
Theorizing Gender Differences Individual
Differences Theory of Gender IT

• The participation level of women in IT can best
  be explained by the interaction of
• the gender shaping of IT in a particular
  (socio- cultural) context
• selective (societal institutional)
  reinforcement of
• individual IT inclinations (interest and
  capability)
• the influence of significant others in a
  womans life/career
• individual responses to generalized societal
• influences

87
Theorizing Gender Differences Individual
Differences Theory of Gender IT

• Data Collection Analysis
• Identify characteristics of successful women in
• a range of IT occupations
• Track variation in definition of male/female
• competencies, mens work, womens work
• Deepen understanding of environmental
• influences on female participation in IT

88
Individual Differences Theoretical Framework
(Trauth, et al., 2004)
89
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• Research questions
• Do economic cultural context factors influence
  the experience of women in the IT workforce?
• How are these factors manifested in the womens
  experience?

90
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• Theoretical frameworks
• Influence-impact framework
• Culture
• Economy
• Individual differences theory of gender IT
• Individual identity
• Individual influences
• Environmental influences

91
Research ModelInfluence-Impact Model of
Technology-Society Interaction
Society
Society
Culture
Women in Information Economy
Culture
Economy
Economy
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Public Policy
Public Policy
Influence
Impact
91
92
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• Methodology
• Analysis of 92 transcripts of life history
  interviews with women in US IT labor force
• Data items examined
• Economy
• Size of IT sector
• Cost of living
• Regional importance of IT

93
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• Culture
• Migration patterns
• Attitudes about women
• Attitudes about women working
• Attitudes about women working in IT

94
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• Massachusetts economy
• Size of IT sector dominant
• Cost of living high
• Regional importance of IT mature, IT employment
  viable for women

95
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• Massachusetts culture
• Attitudes about women perception of
  inclusiveness
• Attitudes about women working acceptable
• Attitudes about women working in IT inconsistent

96
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• North Carolina economy
• Size of IT sector dominant
• Cost of living average
• Regional importance of IT maturing

97
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• North Carolina culture
• Migration patterns in migration of people and
  values
• Attitudes about women Old South v. New South
• Attitudes about women working traditionally not
  acceptable
• Attitudes about women working in IT workplace
  tensions

98
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• Pennsylvania economy
• Size of IT sector not dominant
• Cost of living low
• Regional importance of IT emerging

99
Environmental Influences on Gender in the IT
Workforce

• Pennsylvania culture
• Attitudes about women rural work ethic
• Attitudes about women working men as primary
  breadwinner
• Attitudes about women working in IT overall
  skill shortage, gender hostility

100
Environmental Context

• Investigating the role of environmental context
  in the experiences of women in the IT workforce
• Influence of cultural economic factors
• demonstrates the interaction between gender and
  environmental context
• Supports theoretical claims of variation among
  women in context

101
Feminist Theories applied to IT FieldUsing the
Lenses of Feminist Theories to Focus on Women
Technology

• Liberal feminism
• Socialist feminism
• Feminist standpoint theory
• Ecofeminism
• Existentialist feminism
• Psychoanalytic feminism
• Radical feminism
• Postmodern feminism
• Postcolonial feminism
• Cyberfeminism

102
Feminist Theories applied to IT FieldLiberal
Feminism

• Theory
• Removing barriers to equal access in historically
  male jobs
• Focus on humans as individuals removing
  discrimination
• Aligned with capitalism
• Application
• Womens involvement removes bias in technology
  research/design
• Ergonomics air bag
• Male domination doesnt address issues relevant
  to women users
• Domestic technologies

103
Feminist Theories applied to IT FieldSocialist
Feminism

• Theory
• Focus on societal factors shaping both gender and
  class regarding technology
• Aligned with Marxism
• Class relations Marxism
• Gender relations patriarchy
• Application
• Military influence on IT field
• Technologies favoring wealthy men not poor women

104
Feminist Theories applied to IT FieldFeminist
Standpoint Theory

• Theory
• Give value to (privileging) the situated
  knowledge of marginalized individuals
• Focus on the lived knowledge of women
• Acknowledges the varied experiences of woman due
  to race, social class, etc.
• Black feminist standpoint theory
• Racism, classism, patriarchy
• Emphasizes emancipation
• Application
• Focus on variation in users and designers of
  technology
• For more varied viewpoints on design use

105
Feminist Theories applied to IT
FieldEco-feminism

• Theory
• A type of essentialist feminism
• All women men are united by their biology
• Spatial verbal abilities
• Aggression
• Application
• Men, as aggressors, develop technology to
  dominate, control exploit natural world
• Women, as birth givers, more aligned with nature
  all life
• Women design different types of technology use
  technology differently

106
Feminist Theories applied to IT
FieldExistentialist Feminism

• Theory
• The issue is the value that society assigns to
  biological differences between males females
• Female characteristics having less value
• The male norm
• Conceptualizing woman as the other the not
  man
• Application
• Gender stratification of work
• Men in better paying jobs

107
Feminist Theories applied to IT
FieldPsychoanalytic Feminism

• Theory
• Essentialist theory
• Because males cannot control nature through
  giving birth they need to dominate
• Because females can give birth they are oriented
  toward nurturing
• Application
• Science technology developing as objective,
  rational, distant observer
• Devaluing subjective, emotional, participant
  scientist or technologist

108
Feminist Theories applied to IT FieldRadical
Feminism

• Theory
• Womens oppression is the first, most widespread
  deepest oppression there is
• All people live with and experience gender
• Consciousness raising needed to evaluate
  patriarchal knowledge
• Queer transgender theories question links
  between sex, gender sexual orientation
• Privileging certain gender identities
• Application
• Reject mainstream scientific theories, data
  experiments because they are not women-centered
• Would give users same status as designers of
  technology

109
Feminist Theories applied to IT FieldPostmodern
Feminism

• Theory
• Reject women speaking in a unified voice or can
  be universally addressed
• Rejection of universal woman
• because of womens national, class and cultural
  identities the concept of woman can no longer
  be regarded as smooth, uniform and homogenous
• Application
• Look at gender other characteristics in
  assessing needs

110
Feminist Theories applied to IT
FieldPostcolonial Feminism

• Theory
• Neocolonialism continuing western influence
  after end of colonialism economic, political,
  ideological and military
• Reject view that culture, science technology of
  former colonizing country remains superior to
  that of the colony or postcolonial country
• Patriarchy dominating in same way as
  neocolonialism
• Application
• Offshore outsourcing as new colonialism?
• Cheap labor
• Rejection of forcing developing countries to
  become technologically and scientifically
  literate in order to join global economy

111
Feminist Theories applied to IT
FieldCyberfeminism

• Theory
• Fuses technology and gender
• IT the Internet provide ways to liberate or
  oppress women
• Application
• New work opportunities for women from IT
• Critique of IT revolution reinforcing existing
  power relations along gender, race class lines
• IT recreated as not for women

112
Theorizing Gender IT

• Presence/absence of theory
• Pre-theoretical
• Compile statistics on gender differences
• No gender theory to guide understanding of data
• Cannot easily build upon results
• Implicit-theoretical
• Unstated theory used to guide understanding of
  data is not explicitly stated
• Cannot easily challenge results
• Insufficient-theoretical
• Need for gender theories specifically applied to
  IT

113
Theorizing Gender IT

• Feminist theories applied to IT
• Essentialist
• Ecofeminism
• Existentialist feminism
• Psychoanalytic feminism
• Radical feminism
• Social constructivist
• Socialist feminism
• Postcolonial feminism
• Cyberfeminism
• Individualist
• Liberal feminism
• Feminist standpoint theory
• Postmodern feminism

114
Theorizing Gender IT

• How theory influences the data collection and
  interpretation of results
• Essentialism
• Inherent sex-based biological/psychological
  determinants
• Focus on between-gender differences
• Both feminist and anti-feminist theories
• Interventions assume separate gender spheres
• Social Constructionism
• Societal determinants of gender relations
• Focus on socially-constructed between-gender
  differences
• Interventions applied at societal level

115
Theorizing Gender IT

• Individual Differences Theory of Gender IT
• Individual biological/psychological traits
  affecting technological capability, interest,
  etc.
• Individual societal influences on
• Exposure to gendered IT
• Experience of gendered IT
• Response to gendered IT
• Focus on within-gender not between-gender
  differences
• Interventions at individual, family and societal
  levels

116
Feminist Theories of ICTConclusion

• Both feminist and anti-feminist theoretical
  approaches to gender ICT
• Essentialist
• Social constructivist
• Individualist
• Range of feminist theoretical viewpoints on
  nature vs. nurture

117
Theories of Gender ICT

• Develop one scenario about a male and one
  scenario about a female in which the persons
  relationship ICT (/or IT profession) resulted
  from
• Individual identify factors
• Individual influence factors
• Environmental factors

118
Gender IT Issues

• IT Education
• Recruitment into IT profession
• Retention in IT profession
• Power inequality
• Social capital
• Individual agency
• Work-life balance

119
Gender IT EducationGender Differences
Computing Students Assessment of Societal
Influences

• 1985 Survey about gender stereotypes applied to
  the new area of computing
• Based upon research findings about gender and
  mathematics
• Both males and females surveyed
• Data on mathematics computing grade
  distributions by gender

120
Gender Differences Computing

• Early findings about gender computing (1983)
• Interest in computing follows traditional gender
  differences found in mathematics
• The public stereotype about computers projects
  images of science, mathematics, engineering and
  other make-dominated professions.

121
Gender Differences Computing

• Context high achieving, socio-economic, college
  preparatory, high school students enrolled in
  mathematics course
• Most not enrolled in a computing course
• Findings influence of 4 societal factors on
  participation with IT by gender male/female
  responses to them
• IT is a male domain
• The influence of significant others
• Negative attitudes associated with computing
• Career aspirations

122
Gender Differences Computing

• IT is a male domain
• Believe media portrays IT as male activity
• Rejected view that working with IT is masculine
  activity
• females rejected the gender stereotype stronger
  than males
• Males enjoy computers more than females
• females reject males neutral

123
Gender Differences Computing

• Influence of significant others
• Perception that parents, teachers, guidance
  counselors and peers have lower expectations of
  girls - expect girls to perform worse than boys
  in computing
• Peer influence
• Both reject hacker (nerd) image
• Males projected negative hacker reaction onto
  females
• Males agreed more with peer influence than
  females

124
Gender Differences Computing

• Role models
• Not conscious of influence of teachers guidance
  counselors
• No influence?
• No recognition of influence (yet)?
• (Naïve) Rejection of gender differences in
  counseling?
• Subconscious influences?
• Rejecting stereotype of IT as masculine domain
• Large of female mathematics teachers
• Female computing teacher
• Female computing club advisor

125
Gender Differences Computing

• Negative stereotypes
• About gendered behaviors associated with
  computers
• Females are less logical than males
• females - rejected males - neutral
• Females less aggressive than males
• gaining equal access to limited computing
  resources
• females - rejected males - neutral
• Females are more afraid of computers than males
• Both reject females rejecting significantly more
• Females people-oriented males thing-oriented
• Both neutral

126
Gender Differences Computing

• Career aspirations
• For which computing is viewed as relevant
• Career orientation
• Relevance of IT literacy to intended career
• Females being career-oriented
• Females strongly yes males neutral
• Importance of IT literacy in any career
• All agreed

127
Gender Differences Computing

• Conclusion
• Both male and female students rejected gender
  stereotypes
• Female students more adamant in their rejection
  of gender stereotypes than males
• Female students more sensitive to the issue
  (males more neutral)?
• Understanding neutral responses
• Influence of societal context
• Information economy region (Boston)
• Professional class (educated)
• Role models of women as math/computing educators
• Role models of mothers working in IT

128
Gender IT EducationGender, Achievement,
Persistence in an Undergraduate Computer Science
Program

• Context Gender influences for university level
  computer science (informatics) students
• Survey of computer science students before and
  after completion of 3 core computer science
  courses
• Over three semesters
• 200 students (35 females 165 males)
• Factors that predict achievement retention in
  computer science degree

129
Gender, Achievement, Persistence in an
Undergraduate Computer Science Program

• Are there gender differences in the factors that
  predict achievement and retention?
• Are there gender differences in the reasons that
  good students give for staying in or leaving the
  program?

130
Gender, Achievement, Persistence in an
Undergraduate Computer Science Program

• Retention findings
• Males had higher retention overall
• 60 of males vs. 43 of females
• No gender differences in retention for poor
  students (earning less than a C i.e. below
  average)
• Female students who earned less than a B (i.e.
  above average or very good) were less likely
  to stay in the program than were men

131
Gender, Achievement, Persistence in an
Undergraduate Computer Science Program

• Reasons for gender differences in retention
• Do females believe they can only succeed if they
  are significantly above average?
• Do females believe they have to prove
  themselves more in university?
• Are women students more cautious about pursuing a
  course of study that society tells them they
  might not be well suited for?
• Do less than superior marks reinforce their
  perception that they dont belong?