Gender, Technology & Higher Education

Nov 6th, 2006.

What about technology?

• What do the social institutions teach men and women, boys and girls about technology?

How is technology gendered?

• 1. Technology is gendered because key specialist actors —especially in the design of new technological artifacts and systems— Are predominantly men

• 2. There are strong gender divisions of labor around technology, based in part on an equation between masculinity and technical skill

• 3. Technological artifacts can be gendered, both materially and symbolically, although there often remains considerable interpretative flexibility in their use

• 4. Cultural images of technology are strongly associated with hegemonic masculinity, although there is a huge mismatch between image and practice.

More…

• 5. The very detail of technical knowledge and practice is gendered, albeit in complex and contradictory ways

• 6. Styles of technical work may be gendered somewhat, although there are strong normative pressures to conform

• 7. Technology is an important element in the gender identities of men who work and play with technologies

(Faulkner 2001)

Historical Roots

Rose, Sonya (1992) Limited Livelihoods. Berkeley: University of California Press

• men were considered as having an aptitude for technology and were hired based on these ‘natural masculine traits’.

• Women were defined by attributes that were ‘natural talents’ (such as sewing), and therefore not skilled (and thus could be paid less)

Gender and the Internet

Jan 94

Early Internet Days

• Oct 1998

Implications?

Examples from early research:• Harassment• Stalking• Flaming

Where are we now?

• Internet use for women and men are equal

According to Statistics Canada 2002:• Almost 50% of Canadian

households had at least one member who used the Internet regularly from home

• Almost 60% of all Canadian households had at least one member who used the Internet regularly, either from home, work, school, library or other locations

Different Usage…

Women and men use the internet differently:• Usage Patterns• Men focus on transactions • Women focus on relationships • Internet Uses by Women• Communicating • Building relationships • Investigating new products • Women are often more task-oriented on the

Web than the typical male • Women are using the Web:

– As a time-saver to solve problems – To take control of their personal lives and

finances – To network with others

Higher Ed

• Given that technology is often perceived as masculine, how might this influence its use in Higher Education?

Higher Ed Implications

• Enrollment in programs– Lack of women in technology,

math and science programs

Enrollment

Degrees

Why less women?

• Construction of the science, engineering, technology and maths curricula as abstract and disconnected from social and human concerns;

• Software being written by and for men that unwittingly assumes male lives to be the norm;

• Domination of computer training programs by boys, men and male values;

• Perception of computer professionals as nerds and antisocial 'computer heads';

• Sex stereotyping of toys and activities; • Sex-biased computer software and games;

Why less women?

• Differential availability of female and male role models;

• Different learning experiences of girls and boys in the gendered classroom

• boys' greater access to school resources and teacher attention

• differences in self confidence, self esteem and risk taking behaviours

• different mathematics choices at school for girls and boys

• limiting of career options for girls by subject selection in secondary school.

Gender Differences – why?

IT Skills and Level of Proficiency:• Gendered social contexts• Experience in the use of IT • Patterns of dominance and

collaboration • Socio-economic status of the

family and socialization

The Role of New Technologies in Education

• Male and female students differ in their perception of, and emphasis on, the role of IT in education

• There gender differences in the benefits of IT use

Gender Differences

Gender Differences

Gender Differences

Other problems?

• "Focusing on the tool itself" is a male tendency

• "Focusing on the utility of the tool" is a female tendency.

• Although girls use new technologies as much as boys do, they are less interested in using the computer as a machine, and more interested in learning it as a tool of learning matters that interest them

• Women students seem to use technology in learning in a unique way, i.e., to build learning communities that allows them to eliminate barriers of isolation and competition in the learning process

Group Work

• Make a group of 2-3 students• One person is the note-taker for the

group; list all your names at the top of page

• Make a list of the ways we can incorporate and utilize technology & ICTs into higher education – both in the classroom and institutionally

• Discuss some of the issues or problems that may surface when ICTs - especially in relation to Gender, Race/Ethnicity & Class