Women, Men and Programming

This chapter explores aspects of the gendering of computer science and IT, related to epistemological issues of what computing is and what type of knowledge counts. The c is based upon an interview study of how students and professionals in the field of computer science, perceive programming in a broad sense. Much of the earlier research on the under-representation of women in IT education and the IT industry has tended to focus on factors and aspects where women and men differ in their relation to IT and computers. Inspired by feminist research, it is suggested that developing an understanding of the problem of gender and IT requires a more complex analysis than a dualistic focus on differences between men and women. This chapter analyzes interviews with a range of Swedish male and female students and professionals from the field, in relation to gender with respect to metaphors of programming, inclusion and exclusion, the notion of beautiful code, understandings of masculinity and programming, and the idea of dedication.

Towards a Feminist Manifesto for e-Learning

This chapter argues that the future development of European e-learning needs to be informed by gender theory, and feminist and other critical pedagogies. The authors explore four themes that have been important in gender theory: embodiment, knowledge, power and ethics, and illustrate how these would give a new and more critical perspective for future e-learning developments, and for social progress if they were incorporated into educational policy and practice. The chapter ends with a framework for using this analysis to inform future action, expressed as the first draft of a manifesto.

Gendered Distance Education Spaces

This chapter problematizes how gender is constructed and used in the arguments of flexible distance education. By using a gender and space analysis we destabilise the open, flexible and liberating features of distance higher education spaces, that are supposed to favour women. The questions are; How are the spaces of distance education gendered, and What power asymmetries are produced? The empirical material is Swedish education policies, mainly from the 1990s, concerned with the issue of creating new educational opportunities through a more open and flexible higher education. The chapter provides insights into the gender power asymmetries of these educational spaces through three lines of arguments: gendered technology use, off-campus studies and the home as place for learning. It is concluded that these spaces are characterized by enclosure and restrictions that risk “keeping women in place”, and thus need to be questioned and challenged by feminist readings.

Heteronormativity Revisited

The aim of this chapter is to explore to what extent heteronormativity, the norm that man and woman are attracted to each other because of their presumed difference and complementarity, can offer an explanation for the persisting association between masculinity and technological/computer competence. Two aspects of heteronormative gender relations, namely sexual attractiveness and the heteronormative division of labour are particularly explored. The main focus in this chapter is on how technological competence and the gendered division of labour and of sexual attractiveness are represented in mass media. Along with this, some examples of the consequences of these heteronormative imaginaries and ideology for people’s lives will be given. Amongst youth popular soap operas, stereotypical images are repeated of technologically competent men and socially competent women. For some women, this image also seemed to dominate in their personal lives, where they seemed to want to stay away from technologies as soon as there was a man around. Being (hetero)sexually attractive and being computer competent did not go well together in several block buster movies. The adolescents included in this study clearly shared this notion. These two aspects of heteronormativity do seem to strengthen the understanding of why it is so hard for women to choose a career in technology and particularly in computing science.

Gendered Knowledge Production in Universities in a Web 2.0 World

This chapter examines the access women have had historically to engage in knowledge production as university scholars or students. It discusses the changing nature of knowledge production in universities, and the impact of some Web 2.0 tools on this activity. It asks, through a detailed discussion of wikis and blogging if Web 2.0 tools can challenge the traditional gendering of university knowledge production,.

Computer Courses in Adult Education in a Gender Perspective

In this study of computer courses in municipal adult education, 173 questionnaires from 10 Swedish adult education centres with students taking a basic computer education course were analyzed. The main findings were that men consistently reported greater computer competence, while computer interest or computer attitudes did not show gender differences. The gender differences in computer competence were significant even in the youngest age group. Young women were also the most distinctive group by being the most dissatisfied. The idea that gender issues in adult computer education mainly concern computer reticent middle aged women while young women attend computer courses on a more equal footing with men does not hold in this sample. The results raise some practical questions, particularly in assessing the differences in computer competence and women’s feelings of inadequacy, taking advantage of women’s computer interest, and coming into terms with young women’s expectations.

Queen Bees, Workers and Drones

Collaborative learning online is increasingly popular and the interaction between learners is documented and discussed, but gender is largely absent from this work. This chapter attempts to remedy this gap by offering a review of a study of undergraduate online collaboration. Using a metaphor of bees in the hive, the chapter explores gendered ‘performance’ in online groups through comparing learners’ behaviours with that of queen bees, workers and drones. The frustrated queens, sub-groups of workers and excluded drones identified in the study do not lead to harmonious and productive working. The study concluded that a shift from face-to-face to online does not necessarily promote shifts in gender performances and that finding new ways of performing gender online might help resolve some of the conflicts arising from learning collaboratively.

Women in Computer Science in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, the development of information technology (IT) as an industry and an educational field is still quite young, but this provides the country with an opportunity – especially for women - to participate actively in the process of rebuilding, and to strengthen their role in Afghan society. This chapter gives an overview of the situation at Afghan universities and the women who are studying Computer Science there. Afghan female computer science students are young, open minded and very motivated. Nevertheless they are often limited by social boundaries within Afghan society. The situations and circumstances of these female students are largely unknown; hence a survey has been done to discover more about these women’s world. Female students from Kabul and from Herat University have been interviewed and the data from these interviews is presented here as a foundation for designing measures aimed at integrating Afghan women into the world of IT in the near future.

Against All Odds, from All-Girls Schools to All-Boys Workplaces

The trend for women to be severely under-represented in the UK ICT (information and communication technology) sector persists. Girls continue, year in year out, to excel in academia whilst initiatives are put in place to challenge the gender employment gap in ICT1 professions. As part of a larger research study of women in the ICT labour market, over 500 women were asked about their initial routes into ICT; this included educational backgrounds, influential factors and perceptions of that transition. In analysing the findings we attempt to explain the tendency for women in our sample group to come from single-sex schools and to have a predilection for mathematics and the sciences, then move into male dominated educational and work environments. Our findings report on the personal experiences of women’s unsuspecting trajectory into the UK ICT sector.

Absent Women

This chapter presents a study on the use of research based information on gender and IT education disseminated by Swedish newspapers between 1994 and 2004. The predominant content of the newspaper articles concerns the lack of women, and refers mostly to reports presenting statistics. A gender-blind discourse is almost nonexistent in the articles, meaning that the small proportion of women in IT education on the whole is understood as a problem. A masculinity-connoted discourse – assuming a close relationship between masculinity and technology – and a feminized discourse – based on the idea that women have qualities and skills important in the area of IT – are both given a significant voice, so that the link between masculinity and technology is strengthened and that a gender dichotomy is confirmed. However, a differentiated discourse, which acknowledges gender variations among women as well as men, has had little impact in the newspapers.