Increasing the Enrolment of Women in IT at Fanshawe College

Women comprise over 50% of the population of Canada. At Fanshawe College, where I am a female professor in the School of Information Technology, approximately 95% of the students in my classes are male. The number of women enrolling in Information Technology (IT) programs has been declining in recent years, although enrolment of females in other post-secondary programs is increasing. Technology is becoming ever-present in the lives of young people, including girls and young women, yet education and employment in technology fields are not attracting women

Gender and digital technologies: which factors keep away women from programming and IT services?

El texto tiene por objetivo sistematizar la literatura que aborda la relación entre género y actividades informáticas en los últimos años, específicamente aquella que de distintos modos ayuda a responder a la pregunta por los factores que alejan a las mujeres de las actividades laborales vinculadas a la informática, prototípicamente ubicadas en el sector de software y servicios informáticos (SSI) en Argentina. Aunque la pregunta es, a primera vista, bastante acotada, su respuesta lleva a revisar una vasta literatura. Dedicamos el primer apartado, primero, a delimitar el objeto del escrito, definiendo a las actividades informáticas; y segundo, a destacar la importancia de esta problemática, lo que implica repasar la situación actual del nivel de participación de las mujeres en las actividades informáticas, especialmente a nivel nacional, e incorporando datos sobre el ámbito laboral y la educación superior. El segundo apartado precisa el criterio de ordenamiento de la literatura. Luego, cada sub-apartado da cuenta de la literatura que ha realizado aportes para cada una de las etapas identificadas. Finalmente, presentamos las consideraciones finales.his text aims to systematize the literature that addresses the relationship between gender and IT activities in recent years. More specifically, that which in different ways helps to answer the question about the factors that distance women from IT work activities, prototypically located in the software and IT services sector in Argentina. Although the question is, at first glance, quite limited, answering it leads to the review of a vast literature. We dedicate the opening section, first, to delimiting the object, by defining informatics (or IT) activities; and second, to highlighting the importance of this problem, which implies reviewing the current situation of the level of participation of women in computer activities, especially, but not only, at the national level, by showing data on the labor market and higher education. The second section specifies the ordering criteria of the literature. Then, each sub-section gives an account of the literature that has made contributions for each of the identified stages. Finally, we draw some conclusions.Fil: Yansen, Guillermina. Universidad Maimonides. Centro de Ciencia, Tecniologia y Sociedad.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

High school students’ perception of technology and its influence on their intent to select a technology college major: A study in gender differences

The purpose of this research was to investigate technology perceptions of high school students and analyze the results by gender. The objective was to examine whether high school boys and girls differ in their technology perceptions and whether that difference is related to their intent to select a technology major in college. The research employed survey analysis of 152 students from two high schools from suburban and rural locations in the Midwest. The sample included 72 boys and 80 girls. The students were surveyed to examine their confidence in working with technology products, their locus of control (or their perception of control over their life’s outcomes), their confidence in math and science, the degree to which they considered technology work as fun, their opinions about people who might influence them - such as teachers and counselors at school and parents at home - and the degree to which their opinions conformed to the conventional wisdom that technology is best suited for boys. The final survey instrument used for this research was loosely based on an existing questionnaire formulated by the Assessing Women in Engineering Project. Three pilot studies were carried out to validate this instrument. The data were analyzed using bivariate correlation. The study found statistically significant differences between the way boys and girls perceive technology. There was a statistically significant positive correlation for girls between their locus of control scores and their intent to choose a technology major in college. Locus of control also positively correlated with their confidence in math and science and with their opinion that technology work is fun. In the case of boys, their intent to choose a technology college major was found to be statistically significantly positively correlated to their selfconfidence in math and science, and with their opinion that technology work was fun. Girls with low locus of control scores generally felt that technology is boys’ area. Students were found to have a limited knowledge of technology, where an overwhelming majority indicated that technology means computers. This study demonstrates the need for intervention at the high school level, where perceptions about technology guide students’ future major choices. It points to the need to build technology self-confidence in high school years. The study also finds the need to equate technology with “fun” for both boys and girls. It indicates a need to involve students in hands-on activities where they leave with a feeling of success and self-accomplishment. According to this study’s findings, there is need for greater clarity in talking about technology choices to students. The study highlights the need to ensure zero gender bias and be cognizant of various gender differences in schools. Technology self-confidence and locus of control were found to be significant moderators of boys’ and girls’ intent to choose technology majors in college

Troubling binary codes. Studying information technology at the intersection of science and technology studies and feminist technoscience studies

This dissertation provides a study of Information Technology (IT) as professional and technical culture by drawing together the theoretical lenses of Feminist Technoscience Studies (FTS) and Science and Technology Studies (STS). This central topic has been investigated through an empirical research that focuses on two distinct issues: the gender gap and underrepresentation of women in IT educational and professional paths (computer science, computer engineering, computing); the role of digital artifacts and materiality in the process of organizing within an Italian telecommunication company. With regard to the first field, I have carried out a historical analysis of the experience of the first female coders in early digital computing era and I have conducted a set of interviews with contemporary Italian female IT professionals and practitioners who form and participate to networks and campaigns that promote women’s presence and gender awareness in computing. Drawing on contributions from STS and feminist socio-constructivist approaches in science and technology, I shall argue that the analysis of gender divide in IT should go beyond the issues of female discrimination in order to call into question the gendered nature of computer artifacts and technical knowledge (Faulkner, 2001; Misa, 2010). In the second field site, I have gone beyond the visible issues of gender asymmetries in organization in order to challenge the alleged neutral character of technical artifacts and materiality (Latour, 1992) by drawing on contributions from STS and Workplace Studies. Starting from this body of knowledge which calls into question the very boundaries between the social and the technical (Heath & Button, 2002), I have employed analytic sensibilities from FTS and the recent debate on new materialism in feminist theory (Barad, 2007; Alaimo & Hekman, 2008; Hekman, 2010; Dolphijn & van der Tuin, 2012) to trace out the agential role of materiality and technical objects in producing marginal and invisible positions (Haraway, 1988; Star, 1991; Star & Bowker, 2007). In this respect, I shall argue that technical knowledge and non-human actors take part in politics and practices of boundary-making, sustaining divisions and hierarchies (Hughes & Lury, 2013)