Gender and Technology in Society Today Shefali Baweja

1 Introduction: Technology. The word has become ingrained in society, whereas 200 years ago, it had a completely different meaning and was generally uncommon to the English language (American Heritage, 2011). Today, when an individual thinks of technology, what usually comes to mind are computers, cellphones, the Internet, and a whole array of other devices. In a society where technology is incredibly prevalent, it is interesting to see that when it comes to using and even making technology, there is a wide gender gap present. Fields such as medicine or law have a fair amount of both males and females, but when looking at the field of computer science or fields that involve video game construction, the male presence completely dominates any females that are present. This brings up the question of how the lack of female diversity could affect society, and if there is a way to integrate females into more male dominated fields. Through a series of scholarly articles, the division between gender and technology is closely examined, and various ways to fix a divide that is highly relevant to our society today are further analyzed.

Definition of Gender and Technology: Gender, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, means classification of sex (American Heritage, 2011). When talking about social construction, however, the definition of gender is different. According to the social construction of gender, it is seen that the roles of males and females are an invention of society. Naturally, these roles dont exist independently, but norms and cultural practices provide a rise to the existence of such social constructs. Therefore, although gender roles were never present in society originally, individuals act as if they do because practice deems it normal. Technology, according to the same previous source, is

defined as, the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science (American Heritage, 2011). Together, the study of gender and technology deals with how different sexes are using different technical skills and how they are applying it to real life situations. In terms of social construction, the combination of gender and technology can be seen as how society views gender roles through practice or culture. In other words, society constructs how the female or male gender is seen through a technological viewpoint. When gender and technology are combined, however, the terms gender equity and gender bias are also brought up. Gender equity is defined as, Using technology proactively, being able to interpret that information that technology makes available, understanding the design concepts, and being a lifelong learner of technology (Eck, Hale, Ruff & Tjelmeland, 1999). On the other hand, gender bias is described as, Preference for or favoring of one sex over the other in computer use and/or access (Eck, Hale, Ruff & Tjelmeland, 1999). When looking at gender and technology, the issues of equity and bias are brought up and are two important concepts that our society is faced with today. Through the writings of several authors, such as Jane Margolis and Helen Kennedy, the issues between gender and technology are analyzed and discussed thoroughly to help understand how to overcome gender issues that our society is faced with today.

Explanation and Critical Analysis of the Main Ideas in Authors Materials: In a generation where computers and technology are a part of daily life, it is important to look at the differences between men and women and how technology is integrated into their lives. In the paper, Caring About Connections, Gender and Computing, the authors look at the

differences that are present in how women and men approach computers. According to the paper, most of the male students describe an early and persistent magnetic attraction between themselves and computers, women much more frequently link their computer science interest to a larger societal framework (Margolis et al., n.d.). The authors continue on to explore how women see the study of computer science as a way to help society and help solve problems that our world faces through a series of interviews. The outcome of the interviews showed how women do in fact see computers and computer science as a way to help problems in society while men have a different outlook on said technology. Men, on the other hand, are more interested with how things work rather than how technology can benefit others. This further relates to why young men are more interested in programming classes than young women. The authors also mention that the gender divide is so wide because women feel discouraged when they think about how their student peers are so involved and connected with their interests, basically making it their lives. Women, on the other hand, would rather spend their free time doing more leisure like activities other than reading about programming or building robots. Analysis: The authors of the paper, Caring About Connections, Gender and Computing, constructed their research regarding the gender divide in a clear and concise way. The strong points of the paper were present in the various interviews that took place between both men and women. The fact that fewer women are present in computer science than men isnt necessarily because men are superior to women in said field, but rather because both genders see different uses for the same technology. This may suggest that most women see programming or building robots stigmatized as a mans field when in reality, their views on technologys applications just differ. Although the authors mentioned in their conclusion that they took no position regarding

4 the debate, it was conclusive that they do believe there is a gender gap and more women should be involved in technology so that diversity and insight can help society as a whole. Explanation: In the journal article, Race, Gender, and Information Technology Use: The New Digital Divide, authors researched how different races and genders use technology and further used their results to predict academic performance. In order to categorize their results, authors asked questions about the digital divide, otherwise known as, the gap in the intensity and nature of IT use (Jackson, et al., 2008). Results showed that in the United States, more adult females use the Internet and cellular phones than do men, and more men play videogames than do women. Other aspects researched in the article included how media habits are usually formed early on in life and carry on through time, which can also be connected to the gender divide. Finally, the research also showed that violent videogames tend to lead to more aggressive behaviors as well as lower academic grades. The authors conclude their article by giving ways to both minimize the gender gap and negative effects of violent video games. Analysis: The authors of the journal article, Race, Gender, and Information Technology Use: The New Digital Divide, confirmed that there is a divide between both races and technology and gender and technology. However, when focusing on the divide between gender and technology, it is interesting to see that more adult females use the Internet and cellular phones than do men. This suggests that females are more probable to use the Internet for their communication tools than are men, who might be using the Internet for other uses such as information or business. Further mentioned in the article was the fact that media habits are normally formed early in life and are an indicator of media habits in the future. This may imply that if more women are

5 wanted in computer science or technology fields, they should be introduced to them at an early age. This also suggests that parents and teachers will have to support that women should be present in such fields rather than stigmatizing them as a men only field. Explanation: In the article by Helen W. Kennedy, two main ideas about the videogame Tomb Raider are discussed in detail how female characters in videogames are portrayed as erotic and alluring and also how strong female characters could ultimately pose a threat to the masculine order present in almost all popular video games. Further discussed is the idea of being transgendered, or in other words, being a male player, but having to play a video game with the main character being a female. Two different interpretations are then opened up Lara, the main character of the videogame, is a female body presented in male drag, or that Lara is a female drag performer (Kennedy, 2002). Another interesting point brought up in this article is how these videogames could be used in some way to provide hallucinatory satisfaction to those whose real bodys mobility is impaired in some way (Kennedy, 2002). Ultimately, however, the main focus leads back to the female presence in videogames and how that can even unintentionally construe the ideals of femininity for future generations. Analysis: Throughout Kennedys article, it is suggested that in order to introduce more females to the gaming culture, femininity in videogames needs to be present in a broader range. When Kennedy brought up the idea of transgendered it shows that gaming should not be centralized around a masculine preserve. However on the other hand, if female characters are to be introduced into videogames, it brings up the issue of the erotic and alluring nature of the characters. If more female gamers are introduced to games with such erotic characters, what

happens to the gamers perception of themself? While there is a divide between gender and 6 technology, creating near impossible images of female characters is not a way to bridge that gap, and instead brings up self-image issues. Instead, it could be suggested that females are introduced in other action medias, such as movies, to help eradicate common misconceptions and stereotypes. Conclusion: In conclusion, it can be seen clearly that there is a gender divide in technology and that essentially, everything to fix such a divide is connected. In other words, if more female role models were brought into fields such as computer science or the construction of videogames, there would ultimately be more females in either field, not to mention more female characters in videogames. This is due to the fact that women would see first hand that such fields are not for a specific gender and it is possible to succeed. Also tied into this is spreading awareness to teachers, parents, or any high authority that fields such as computer science or video game construction are not for women. Engraining into childrens minds that there are specific fields for men and women just further builds the social construction of gender. Furthermore, it is important to have diversity in any field, especially if that sphere of interest is looking to expand in growth and in creativity. Different technological fields will not be able to expand if the individuals working there do not have a wide range of experiences, which is not present in only one specific group of people mainly males. Women need to see that computing has a lot of relevance in society today, and it is not just limited to how technology works, but how technology can help others. All in all, it is incredibly important to establish an atmosphere that recognizes the importance of a female presence and the diversity it brings, as it is essential to the growth of not only individuals, but to society as a whole.

References Eck, J., Hale, M., Ruff, S., & Tjelmeland, M. (1999). An educators guide to gender bias issues. Retrieved from http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/wp/access/gender.html Gender. (2011). In Ahdictionary.com. Retrieved November 27, 2011, from http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=gender Jackson, L.A., Zhao, Y. Kolenic, A., Fitzgerald, H.E., Harold, R. & von Eye, A. (2008). Race, gender, and information technology use: The new digital divide. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 11 (4), 437-442. Kennedy, H.W. (2002). Lara Croft: Feminist icon or cyberbimbo? The International Journal of Computer Game Research, 2(2). Margolis, J., Fisher A., Miller, F., (n.d.). Caring about connections: Gender and computing. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/gendergap/www/papers/IEEE99.html Technology. (2011). In Ahdictionary.com. Retrieved November 27, 2011, from http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=technology