Rethinking the ‘problem’ of gender and IT schooling: discourses in literature (original) (raw)

Gender Equality in ICT Education

2019

Is ICT somehow natural for men, and unnatural for women? Are women underrepresented in ICT professions? Does ICT education harm women? These and similar questions buzzle many. The cornerstones for any profession are set at the education phase, in different education institutions and in the curricula they follow. Gender roles and models accepted in early education will have a long tail paving the way for maybe the whole professional career of an individual. If changes in gender roles in any profession are looked for, professional education is a good place to start with. At the same time, it must be remembered and studied, if gender roles towards ICT are already formulated at the basic education. This article performs a literature review on the gender equality issues in ICT education. The questions presented above are scrutinized especially from the viewpoint of ICT education. There is a severe search for any theoretical explanations why ICT should be male-oriented. At the end, reason...

Gender Equity and Information Technology in Education: The Second Decade

Review of Educational Research, 2001

This article presents a review on gender differences and information and communication technology (ICT) in primary and secondary education. First the rapid development of the use of ICT in education is outlined. Then the topics of access to computers, computer-related learning processes, and educational outcomes are discussed. The review also provides insight into the background of gender differences in participation in computer activities and performance in relation to ICT. The research reviewed focused on the role of teachers and fellow classmates, on the different approaches of girls and boys to ICT, and on the preferences of girls regarding the structure and design of software. The research also analyzed the complex meaning of computer attitudes as both a cause and a consequence of differences in the participation and performance of girls and boys. The extent and nature of these differences vary from application to application.

Between a rock and a hard place: women and computer technology, Gender and Education, 2015

This paper explores certain possible reasons behind the uneasy relationship between women and technology. The cultural identification of technology with masculinity has been well documented through previous research. However, we feel it is useful to revisit this complex relationship through the scope of a more subtle distinction between ‘users’ and ‘connoisseurs’, and the struggle over power, which revolves around a specific form of hegemonic masculinity. We draw on interviews that examine students’ experiences, emotions, and statements about gender, technology, mathematics, and education, and we try to offer an understanding of the ways women negotiate their position within the dominant discourse about computing and mathematics. Our analysis employs post- structuralist discourse theory.

Undergraduate students' gender differences in IT skills and attitudes

Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2003

The worldwide concern about the gender gap in information technology and the lack of woman participation in computer science has been attributed to the different cultural influences to which boys and girls are subject. In The University of Hong Kong, girls achieved greater improvements in their computer skills than their male counterparts after completing one year of studies. Recognising their own progress has, in turn, boosted their confidence in using IT. The young women's estimates of their skill levels have doubled over the years from 1998 to 2000. Despite this recorded acceleration at the end of the academic years, girls were less confident of their abilities and possessed lower IT skill levels than boys before starting their university education, as found in surveys of freshmen's computer skills. This study compares the responses of student participants of the HKU/IBM Notebook Computer Programme, which started in 1998, in the self-reported IT skills and attitudes of male and female students, in surveys conducted both at the beginning and again at the end of the freshman year. It also examines the achievement scores of the IT Proficiency Tests and the 'Foundations to Information Technology' courses administered for the student IT requirement for graduation.

Gendering the ICT curriculum: The paradox of choice

Computers & Education, 2009

This paper looks at the ICT (information and communication technology) curriculum in New Zealand secondary schools and gendered participation patterns in different specialist ICT subjects. New Zealand has a permissive ICT curriculum, comprising a variety of subjects and characterised by choice and variation in the curriculum in practice at the local level. The data that are reported include results of (i) a national questionnaire survey of secondary schools, and (ii) a qualitative case study conducted in a large, coeducational New Zealand secondary school and involving classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students. It is suggested that the permissiveness of the curriculum, which ostensibly caters for the needs of students by providing choices, may, in some circumstances, effectively reinforce gender stereotypes relating to computer interests and practices. This is a paradox of choice. Questions are raised about the nature of the ICT curriculum in New Zealand and how it may contribute to or challenge gender stereotypes, future curriculum developments and, more broadly, how we can account for persistent gendered participation patterns in ICT subjects in schools.

Gender-related effects of computer and information literacy education

Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1997

In the school year 1993-94 a new subject,`Information and computer literacy' (ICL), was introduced in lower secondary education in the Netherlands. This article reports on a study of the effects of the curriculum materials used and of teaching behaviour in ICL lessons on changes in girls' and boys' attitudes towards computers, knowledge about ICL , and future plans. A second question focuses on the gender-linked ideas about the subject developed by pupils during ICL lessons. Students appear to enter the classroom with gender-linked patterns of behaviour and attitudes, but education plays an important role. After the course the differences in knowledge between girls and boys have diminished. However, the course was not able to remove gender differences in attitudes. Moreover, for students who worked with a non-genderinclusive method, gender differences in attitudes increased. The events and experiences in the classroom contribute to the extension of gender-speci c repertoires of pupils.

Challenging Our Views on ICT, Gender and Education

Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 2011

The overall picture of the situation relating to gender and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has so far been that men have been dominating the field and have left the women behind. This has also been the point of departure for policymakers. But, as will be shown in this paper, this male domination of the entire ICT field is not the case anymore. On the contrary, the situation is far more complex. For example, when looking at younger generations, the picture appears to be nuanced; both boys and girls seem to be involved and interested in using different ICT tools, both at school and elsewhere (CERI, 2010). Moreover, along with the new generation, there is the emergence of the new social media, in which girls seem to be highly involved. The present paper explores the ways in which the gender issue appears in youngsters’ use of and attitudes towards ICT and how they perform and interact as producers and consumers of digital content.

Introduction to Gender Differences in Computer and Information Literacy

IEA Research for Education, 2019

As computer and information technologies increasingly dominate modern life, educators and policymakers recognize the importance of ensuring that all students are able to use computers to investigate, create, and communicate effectively. Intriguingly, results from IEA's International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) of grade eight students, undertaken in 2013, indicated that female students generally had higher computer and information literacy (CIL) scale scores than male students. This book further analyzes the data collected by ICILS 2013, providing an in-depth investigation of the gender differences in the CIL abilities of students and their teachers. After establishing how CIL (and other similar constructs) are assessed, this chapter reviews the existing research into gender differences in students' CIL; this is based mainly on data collected by large-scale assessments. Patterns in students' use of information and computer technologies, their perceptions of computer technology, and their sense of competence in using computer technologies reveal gender differences that might be associated with the differing development of students' CIL. Gender differences among teachers, in their confidence in the use of computer technologies and their attitudes to the pedagogical use of those technologies, are also examined. Keywords Computer and information literacy (CIL) • Gender differences • Information and communications technologies (ICT) • International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) • International large-scale assessments