:: Netwoman ::

:: Saturday, February 26, 2005 ::

Women thrive in sciences while discourse on reason dives

Article Located here

TAMPA - In two months, Kiara Perez-Blanco will prove her father wrong, and maybe the president of Harvard, too. The University of South Florida senior is one of a handful of women expected to graduate this spring with a degree in industrial engineering.

Her father didn't think she could do it.

"He's like, "Girls don't have destructive minds,"' said Perez-Blanco, 22. "And engineers have to have destructive minds."

Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers spun a variation on that theme last month, suggesting that natural-born differences between men and women - he used the term "intrinsic aptitude" - were major reasons why men continue to dominate science and engineering. He said the influence of social forces was overblown.

"I would far prefer to believe something else," he told the audience at an economics conference, "because it would be easier to address what is surely a serious social problem if something else were true."

The waves of national publicity his remarks generated have put Summers' job in jeopardy.

They also have rekindled a touchy debate about whether there are genetic differences in the way men and women think and learn - and whether the differences matter. The research is inconclusive. And in that vacuum, attempts to discuss nature, nurture, men and women can't help but be haunted by old stereotypes.

Girls play with dolls. Girls can't do math.

Academic performance is based on "culture; it's how we were raised," said Perez-Blanco, who cruised through circuitry, thermodynamics and calculus III and now dreams of reconfiguring some company's distribution system. Those who think otherwise are "male chauvinists ... still living in the 1920s."

Few researchers discount the effect socialization has on academic and career choices. But some say it's more complicated than that.

Studies show, for example, that women's brains are smaller then men's, even accounting for weight differences, while other research suggests women's brains have more neurons - the cells that power thinking. In his speech, Summers noted that autistic children were once thought to be the result of bad parenting.

Meanwhile, statistics show women are making academic gains, even in the sciences, while men are quietly sinking. At USF, women make up a big majority of the chemistry majors and outnumber men 2 to 1 in biology.

One expert on the gender gap says it would be a shame if the debate on innate differences doesn't get a thorough airing - especially for boys.

"We have focused all of our progress on women in the past 35 years," said Thomas Mortenson, a senior scholar at the Pell Institute, a higher education think tank. "And now almost all of the problems in gender are boy problems."

Mortenson contends that boys learn differently - that they're more "wiggly" than girls - and that today's teaching methods leave them shorthanded.

He knows he's a lone voice in the wilderness.

Gender gap data often don't jibe with perception.

Male enrollment at Florida's 11 universities dropped to 43 percent this year and to 40 percent at USF. In the USF College of Medicine, women surpassed men for the first time.

In some fields, the figures remain lopsided in men's favor.

Nationwide, the ratio of men to women in computer science departments is 3 to 1 among students and 9 to 1 among faculty. In physics, about 80 percent of the students are male, as are 93 percent of the professors.

Critics fear cracking the door for the nature-nurture debate will send the wrong message, both to administrators making halfhearted efforts to diversify mostly male departments and to girls who may be deterred from pursuing careers in science.

"I don't remember a single instance where I was discouraged. That made a difference," said Jean Andino, a Harvard graduate and chemical engineer who is a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Florida. "That is a big reason why I am now an engineer."

Despite enrollment gains, it's still lonely at the top. And persistent issues there have provided much of the kindling fueling the Summers debate.

Only 14 of 193 tenured professors in the UF engineering college are women. In some UF departments, the numbers are even more cockeyed: In math, there are 41 men and two women. In astronomy, one woman. In statistics, none.

Similar numbers can be found in math and science departments nationwide.

The education pipeline is part of the problem. If fewer women than men enter math, science and engineering fields as students, fewer will emerge as professors.

A generation ago, the numbers in those fields were abysmal for women. But that's less true every year.

The percentage of women awarded engineering degrees jumped from 2 percent in 1975 to 20 percent today. In math, the numbers grew from 42 percent to about 50 percent.

"The pipeline has been going fairly well for some time," said Carolyn Gordon, a math professor at Dartmouth College and immediate past president of the Association for Women in Mathematics.

USF physics professor Lilia Woods said she has noticed more women doing graduate work in physics since she came to the United States from Bulgaria 12 years ago. When she attended a conference of the American Physical Society a decade ago, there were few women. And now?

"I think they are almost overtaking the men," Woods said.

Yet in a 15-member department, she remains the only woman.

In his speech, Summers largely dismissed other factors that might be responsible for low faculty numbers, including discrimination in hiring. He took heat for that, too.

Gordon noted a recent study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that documented lower pay and less recognition for female faculty. Given the growing numbers of women in the pipeline, the rate of growth among female faculty is still too low, she said.

Summers' comments, she said, "sound like an excuse."

Mortenson, the Pell Institute scholar, said Summers' critics make some good points. But he worries that the debate over women in a handful of academic fields is overshadowing a bigger problem with boys across the board.

Everything should be on the table for discussion, he said, including the possibility of innate differences. But he doesn't see that happening.

"We're in the middle of a revolution," he said.

And in his view, the girls are winning.

:: Netwoman 9:18 PM [+] ::
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The Damnation of Women: On Race, Sex and Politics in Cyberspace, 2005

Professor Kim offers some insight into the women question...check it out...

:: Netwoman 12:08 PM [+] ::
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Objectification and the Male Gaze

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became the 66th Secretary of State on January 26, 2005. As she stated at her confirmation hearing, "we must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom. And the time for diplomacy is now." She also advocates for the following: "Secretary Rice recognizes that in its fight for freedom, the U.S. must increase exchanges with the rest of the world--confronting hate, dispelling dangerous myths, and getting out the truth."

Via Negrophile, and article about an article in the Washington Post about what Rice was wearing.

"Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a woman combines them in the real world, stubborn stereotypes have her power devolving into a form that is purely sexual."

The article goes on to talk about her clothing, but ends with this paragraph:

"Rice's appearance at Wiesbaden -- a military base with all of its attendant images of machismo, strength and power -- was striking because she walked out draped in a banner of authority, power and toughness. She was not hiding behind matronliness, androgyny or the stereotype of the steel magnolia. Rice brought her full self to the world stage -- and that included her sexuality. It was not overt or inappropriate. If it was distracting, it is only because it is so rare."

I find this article disturbing. Men do the looking; women are there to be looked at.

Baldilocks notes: "All the guys are all heated up, and having black women in black fantasies, while we women are just saying, "You go, girl!" and getting back on that Stair-Master. ;-)

I am wondering why people are talking about what Rice is wearing? Why are people talking about her sexy boots, her long jacket and the colour of her outfit? I don't see the same types of observations occuring with men in the political sphere. Why? Because image, sexuality and representation is key to how people view and perceive women - especially women of colour. Image defines women, and these images are interpreted into sexual imagery and fantasy. The article from the post talks about exuding power through her clothing, but I think this artcile is really missing the point. Granted, she looks great. BUT, I am more interested in what she has to say about certain issues, how she plans to carry out her plans to confront hate. This is where the power is and what it is all about - not in how her hips move because of her high heeled boots. Talking about her clothing and appearance, well it's about objectification - we are consuming her image, racializing her - sexualizing her and the power she possesses.

This stuff really makes me crazy.

Read other comments at BlueOregon and P6.

:: Netwoman 11:18 AM [+] ::
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Women Making Strides in IT Sector

More are graduating but women less than 25 per cent of IT workforce

TORONTO, Feb. 25 /CNW/ - More women are graduating from computer science programs at Canadian universities but only a small percentage of women who enroll graduate and women make up only 25 per cent of the workforce, according to an informal survey of ten universities conducted by CIPS. CIPS, Canada's association of Information Technology (IT) professionals, is striving to correct these imbalances through its fifth, annual "Women in IT: Looking towards the Future" program.

The CIPS Women in IT events aim to encourage high school girls to pursue IT careers. Women IT professionals from various fields are serving as mentors to the girls. The first of a series of CIPS events taking place across the country starts today in Edmonton. The series, created in celebration of International Women's Day (March 8), will continue through to April 26, 2005.

"Enrollments in computing related courses continue to decline in part because students, parents and school counselors continue to hear discouraging reports about the state of the IT sector in Canada. In fact, technology is one of the faster growing sectors of the economy with an unemployment rate of around 3 per cent," said Faye West, Information Systems Professional (I.S.P.), Software Human Resource Council Chair.
According to the Software Human Resource Council, in March 2000, the total IT workforce was 480,758 of which 122,130 were women (25.4 per cent). In November 2004, the total IT workforce was 572,547, of which 130,593 were women (22.8 per cent).
"Clearly, women still represent less than one quarter of the current IT workforce," said Pat Gaudet I.S.P., CIPS Director. "More than ever, we need to continue to reach out to young women and show them the benefits of a career in IT."

:: Netwoman 7:05 PM [+] ::
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Where are the AFrican Women bloggers?

As mentioned, there is a lot of discussion about the 'politics' of women bloggers. What's interesting about all this discussion is the the broad (no pun intended) category of "women". We saw this problem in the second wave of feminism in the 60's - white women speaking for all women, ignoring ethnicity, class, age, ability and sexuality. The umbrella category of women is problematic.

Negrophile points this out as well. Black Looks reminds us the specificity of the blogging experience:

"Now all this talk of women bloggers, minority bloggers, bloggers of colour etc is great stuff BUT no one is talking about AFRICAN women bloggers, especially those blogging from Africa rather than the diaspora. If anyone's voice is lost it is that of Africa women. When it comes to the mainstream media and and even the "alternative" so called "progressive" media and that includes the Blogger world, technologically we don't exist - but actually we do. A few weeks ago I reported on the African IT initiative

"which will provide access to information and communication technologies and community based centers for "e-education, e-health and e-governance initiatives"

The great thing about the initiative is that the centres will be run by women which will put them at the "forefront of information technology development on the continent." Another technology initative is being run by Gender Links which piloted a daily internet link-up between community groups across South Africa's nine provinces during the 16 days activism on Gender Violence last year. They have now formed a partnership with a host of organisations and community NGOs to run seven more Cyber Dialogues linked to a daily paper, the Gem news.

Over 50 networks and institutions around the globe, including UNIFEM regional and World Bank Public Information offices, will help to provide access for women to air their views on breaking news that will be channeled back into the conference through a daily page in the newspaper called "cyber link."

"This is an excellent example of African women using IT to bridge the divide between north and south, women and men," said GL director Colleen Lowe Morna. "It is e-governance at its best and is part of our ongoing campaign to harness the Internet - that has often been used to denigrate women - as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal for claiming women's rights."

UPDATE: Looks like Trish Wilson and I are on the same wavelength today...

"Black Women Bloggers: Sheelzebub links to a must-read post from Black Looks about black women bloggers...She has another excellent post about being black, female, and passed over. It's a must-read.

:: Netwoman 12:13 PM [+] ::
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Yale women demand stand on gender controversy

By Alorie Gilbert, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: February 22, 2005, 4:25 PM PT

A controversial speech by the president of Harvard University questioning women's abilities to excel in science and engineering continues to reverberate in the halls of academia.

A group of 100 women graduate students and faculty members at Yale University delivered a petition on Tuesday to Yale President Richard Levin, demanding that he publicly condemn the remarks of his Harvard counterpart, Lawrence Summers.....

Rest of article here.

:: Netwoman 11:17 PM [+] ::
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More Video Game Discussions

Is it just me, or is there a lot of discussion going on about video games right now?

Trish Wilson talks about her husband playing Warcraft and the nasty people there....

I have commented before on how women might be deterred from playing games because of harassment, I suspect that men might grow tiresome of the nasty environment (though for different reasons).

Terra Nova asks what exactly appropriate game play is all about.

"While publishes might assume that they have the right to define the kinds of conduct and speech in virtual worlds, transgression is alive and well in the form of player protest, riots and form explosions that seem to a regular feature of current MMOs."

:: Netwoman 9:51 PM [+] ::
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More on Women and Gaming

A couple of blogs of note....via GGA

Killer Betties and Atheny's Legacy.

Here's an article called "Girl games: They’re pink, they sparkle, they teach you to match outfits. Where these titles, and the girl games industry, went wrong" found here:

"But what exactly defines a girl game in the first place? Female characters? Girly missions? Slapdash designs? In my mind, a girl game is one that has been specifically created for and marketed to girls. The primary concern of those in charge of its production is not quality gaming, but picking up on sales from a profitable niche market. Not that every game publisher doesn't have money on the mind, but in the case of girl games, that desire for profit is rarely followed up by the healthy market competition that forces production teams to put out a worthwhile product in order to stay afloat. It's a widely accepted element of the industry: girl games suck...."

"In the end, the idea of creating gender-specific games, whether for girls or for boys, is just demeaning. By putting out these titles, game makers are implying that girls can't, and don't want to, handle real games. Sometimes that might seem right, but only because it's an accepted (by both sexes) preconception, and not because it's innately true."

Interesting article, go have a look.

:: Netwoman 11:48 PM [+] ::
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Women, Men & Money

From Pew Internet & American Life Report:

"Our November 2004 telephone survey brought some interesting data about women, men, and financial activities online.

Men and women are equally likely to buy a product online, such as books, music, toys or clothing (67%). They are also essentially equally likely to buy or make a reservation for a travel service, like an airline ticket, hotel room, or rental car. Sixty percent of online men do this vs. 63% of online women (that difference is within the margin of error of +/- 5%).

Men are significantly more likely to go online to get financial information, such as stock quotes or mortgage interest rates – 56% of online men vs. 33% of online women. Men are also more likely to participate in an online auction (28% vs. 18%) or to buy or sell stocks, mutual funds or bonds (20% vs. 6%)."

So, still some gender differences...would be interesting to know the reason behind this. In my own research, many women do the banking - but I haven't asked about the investments and finances as above. Interesting.

:: Netwoman 7:01 PM [+] ::
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African American's and Blogging

Adventures in the Blogosphere: as Internet journals come into their own, African American voices are rising above the noise located here. Some blogs mentioned there that I read, such as Negrophile and Professor Kim.

:: Netwoman 11:16 PM [+] ::
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Harvard Transcripts

Harvard President releases transcript of controversial remarks - you can read it over at Kim Pearson's Blog...

:: Netwoman 11:09 PM [+] ::
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Bits Of Blogging

Hilde has some good links posted.

Good post over at Game Girl Advance that Women are not Girls:
"Let's get that cleared up right away. While we may refer to ourselves playfully as "girls" and "gamergirls", we're not girls. We don't play girl games. Girl games are for children. Is this an obvious point? Apparently not to many folks to write to me about what women and girls want in games. Well, they want different things..."

More on the every-90-day-where-are-the-women-bloggers question over at Trish's Blog. Clancy has updated her link portal too. But, you have to read the comments over at Kevin Drum's blog. It's again - disturbing. Notice the nasty comments...

UPDATE: Trish comments that they've made the big time and makes an interesting comments:

"My critics certainly make a spirited -- if anecdotal -- case for the proposition that women have no problem being as nasty as men."

Also Bitch PhD has a way with words - especially in this situation.

:: Netwoman 10:12 PM [+] ::
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It's (Not) All In Good Fun

Danah Boyd blogs about harassment in Video Games over at Misbehaving.net.
"A female player logged into her female character and was greeted by a male who told her she had a nice chest. She doesn't say exactly what he says, but it offended her, so she told him to knock it off and that she was reporting him. He went on to scold her about how her doing that would ruin the game for everyone else, and that it was just good fun."

She then gives some comments from the game community. Ugh!! Go have a look.

Danah says:
"How on earth any of these people can come up with the nerve to say that making degrading sexual remarks to women is 'fun', I'll never understand. If that's fun, these people need therapists, and a good dose of reality..."

And people wonder why we maintain blogs on gender (etc) and technology, and why we spend so much time researching and writing about these issues - because inequality exists and discrimination against women is prevalent.

:: Netwoman 9:11 PM [+] ::
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Lapping up paperless learning

More issues to think about concerning the Digital Divide, as internet technology moves into the classroom...

A new school where books are largely replaced by personal laptops is loved by its pupils, but will this hi-tech world lift standards, asks Mary Braid
'I suppose the other kids are jealous,' concedes Joshua Harris, 12, sitting, like every other member of his English class, in front of his very own laptop computer.

The 'other kids' are all the children who did not manage to get into St Cecilia's, a new Church of England secondary school that opened its doors in Wandsworth, south London, last year and this year had eight children scrambling for each of its 150 places.

Joshua clearly feels lucky compared with all those other children. He says his mother is not even a church-goer. "I'm here because I live on the estate up the hill," he says. "But I'm the only person from my primary school who got in here."

There are plenty of reasons for St Cecilia's to be popular. Sheer newness and glossy, high-tech appearance for a start. Even the head teacher, Jeffrey Risbridger, admits that from the outside St Cecilia’s, with its large plasma screen flashing up the names of guests in the foyer, looks more like a plush new office block than a high school. But it is the school's laptop policy that may be its biggest lure for parents and pupils.

St Cecilia's, building its way to a full complement of 900 pupils, currently has just 11, 12 and 13-year-olds on roll. But every one of its 300 pupils has their own laptop, picked up in the morning and used across subjects until the school day ends at 2.30pm. If they then want to stay on to complete homework the building is open — and the laptops are available — until 6pm.

The laptops are a vital part of a state-of-the-art information and communication technology (ICT) scheme in which the latest radio technology and extended battery power are used to avoid the need for cables. Every classroom is equipped with electronic whiteboards, upon which teachers flash up their lessons, consigning the old-fashioned handout to history.

Pupils can do their homework onscreen at school and file it electronically for marking. They can also access and work on their school files from home computers. It all means less paper and fewer books, and much more gathering of knowledge via the internet.

Risbridger is proud to have steered St Cecilia's down a steep technological path. "What's the point in having a new 21st century school and running it along 19th century lines?" he asks.

He would ideally like his pupils to take their machines home at night in the padded rucksacks provided but "in inner-city London where 11-year-olds get mugged for a £10 phone never mind an £800 computer the risks are too high".

The pupils would certainly like to take the laptops home. If they could get away with it, the 11-year-olds would probably take them to bed with them. Joshua, 12, may be a blasé year 8 pupil now but last year was a different story. "I used to come into school early just to get my laptop," he confides, adding that although the novelty has worn off, he still loves his computer.

"It just gives a neat presentation of work," he says, tapping away in his English class, electronically marking up the repetition, rhyme and rhythm in a Caribbean poem.

The laptops are not confined to the classrooms. In the school canteen, pupils even tap away over a sandwich. One boy, learning guitar, is accessing a site devoted to flamenco dancing. That ought to be as sexy as it ever gets. The school uses a special internet service provider to block access to unsuitable sites.

But despite the popularity of its laptop policy, the school's chosen route raises key questions about technology and learning and is not without risks.

Does the technology result in better education, improve attainment and offer good value for money, given the tightness of school funds? As his roll rises, will Risbridger be able to provide a laptop for every child? Can a school, even one as new as St Cecilia's, keep up with the speed of technological advance? In The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom, American writer Todd Oppenheimer argues that countless US schools have been conned into buying expensive computer systems they do not need and do not know how to use and which add nothing to children’s education. Schools, he insists, have squandered money that would have been better spent on teachers and books.

Risbridger says he wrestled with such issues from the moment he was appointed head of St Cecilia's. With the money involved, the wonder is that he sleeps at night. The school’s computer system is costing £150,000 a year in new machines. Maintenance of the system, outsourced to a private company, adds another £55,000 a year. How much it will cost to update the laptops with an estimated shelf life of three years, he admits, is as yet "the great unknown".

:: Netwoman 10:06 PM [+] ::
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Celebrating Black History Month

I have been collecting some tid bits of information about African Americans/Canadians and Technology, will share some...

Marie Brown - The first video home security system was patented (patent #3,482,037) on December 2, 1969 to Marie Brown. The system used television surveillance.

Valerie Thomas received a patent in 1980 for inventing an illusion transmitter. This futuristic invention extends the idea of television, with its images located flatly behind a screen, to having three dimensional projections appear as though they were right in your living room. Perhaps in the not-so-distant future, the illusion transmitter will be as popular as the TV is today.

50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology Bios - There are a couple women in here.

African American Women in Technology here.

:: Netwoman 8:13 PM [+] ::
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Opening doors for women in computing

By Alorie Gilbert
here

The computer science world was anything but welcoming to Maribel Gonzalez.

After a harrowing first year, she quit the computer science program at the University of California at Los Angeles. Until that point--six years ago--Gonzalez had excelled at math and had looked forward to a computer-centric career. But at UCLA, she felt overwhelmed by the programming experience of her mostly male peers. With no programming classes under her belt, the "sink or swim"-style courses, she said, did not suit her.

"I never worked so hard to get Cs," recalls Gonzalez, now a public-school teacher in New York. "It was a blow to my ego, and it scared me."
News.context

What's new:
Comments from Harvard's president have reignited a debate about the declining presence of women in the information technology field.

Bottom line:
Although research points to differences between male and female brains, scholars point to other factors in explaining why women have been logging off from computer careers. Meanwhile, reformers working to reverse the trend can point to at least some success.

More stories on this topic

Gonzalez' tale is at the center of a trend that is disheartening to many.

Data from the National Science Foundation shows that the female share of bachelor's degrees in computer science dropped from 37 percent in 1985 to 28 percent in 2001. And while women comprised 33 percent of information technology professionals in 1990, that figure was down to 26 percent in 2002, according to NSF. The drop is puzzling in part because women are making progress in related areas such as the natural sciences.

On the other hand, some efforts to bring women back to computing appear to be paying off. That's seen as vital for reasons including fueling the nation's tech economy and preventing male bias in the way future technology is developed. "Any sort of monoculture is bad," said Radia Perlman, a researcher at Sun Microsystems Laboratories. "You need people that can think from a different angle."

Harvard president ignites controversy
Spurred by the furor over recent remarks by Harvard University President Lawrence Summers, the topic of the declining participation of women in IT is now prominent among concerns about the future of high technology in the United States.

"Techies are created at a young age. If we want a more diverse workforce, we have to draw the pre-teen and teenage demographics into the tech scene as this is when techies are created - not in college programs."
--Michael Hatley

At a conference late last month, Summers suggested that innate differences between the genders could help explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers.

Although he eventually offered a public apology, Summers touched a nerve and sparked a protest letter.

A growing body of research suggests that there are real differences between the brains of men and women.

But a number of scholars reject the idea that women are biologically less apt to succeed in the computer science field. They point instead to factors such as the stereotype of computer jockeying as a geeky, male profession. The long hours often required with computing jobs also may deter women who wish to raise children.

Cornelia Brunner, associate director of the Center for Children & Technology, argues that a societal swing toward conservative values over the past few decades has helped frame technology in masculine terms--as a powerful "magic wand," she said, rather than a tool that could help or hurt society.

"In a very, very deep way, it turns women off," Brunner said. "It puts the machine at the center, rather than its capabilities."

Closing the gender gap
While the statistics for women IT workers are bleak, they have spawned dozens of efforts to attract women to the field and encourage those already there.

One of the newest and most ambitious groups to emerge is the National Center for Women and Information Technology, a nonprofit based at the University of Colorado at Boulder that received a four-year, $3.25 million grant last year from the National Science Foundation.

The group's goal is to increase the ranks of women in the U.S. computing and IT work force from about 25 percent today to 50 percent over the next 20 years. It's already signed up an impressive roster of participants from more than 20 universities, a dozen high-tech companies and nonprofits such as the Girl Scouts.

Another focus is reforming college computer science programs to make them less about weeding out weak students and more about encouraging all comers to succeed.

Carnegie Mellon University has been something of trailblazer in this respect. In 1995, a paltry 7 percent of undergraduates enrolled in CMU's computer science school were women. Now, after instituting changes--comparable to affirmative action sans quotas--designed to attract women six years ago, women enrollment is closer to a third.

While still requiring high test scores, especially in mathematics, the school no longer puts as much weight on prior programming experience. Freshman accelerated-programming classes generally level the playing field by the student's sophomore year, said Lenore Blum, a CMU computer science professor.

"In the '90s, we selected for the geek personality," Blum said.

Gonzalez's alma mater, UCLA, is among the schools working to change the experience for computer science students. In the past several years, the California university has received grants from Hewlett-Packard to revamp an introductory course in electrical engineering to make it less intimidating and more effective.

Students can now send questions to the professor during class via wireless instant messaging rather than having to raise their hand--a strategy designed to aid shy students. The instructor can either discuss the question with the whole class or answer it privately later.

Recalling that she was one of four Latina women from Los Angeles public schools who dropped out of UCLA's computer science program, Gonzalez applauds the idea of programs that accommodate relative computer newbies. As a middle-school teacher, she encourages a new generation of potential women techies by focusing on the fundamentals of the field. "I definitely push math and science in my class," she said.

As reformers work to make the computer science field less guy-centric, hundreds of thousands of women continue to make their living and pursue their passions in IT. Here's a glimpse into the lives of three women in tech.

Intrepid entrepreneur: Stephanie DiMarco
Gender biases in the financial-services industry helped push Stephanie DiMarco to become a leader in the tech world.

With a fresh business degree from the University of California at Berkeley, DiMarco applied for a position as an investment analyst. "The seminal moment in my career was in a job interview, when a guy asked me how fast I can type," she recalled.

An indignant DiMarco decided that she could be her own boss, and in 1983, she co-founded Advent Software.

At the outset, DiMarco's vision was to use then-powerful IBM "XT" personal computers to give software tools to financial-services professionals. The company, which continues to focus on the financial-services industry, now employs about 800. Its chief technology officer, Lily Chang, is also a woman.

As a member of the small club of woman tech CEOs, DiMarco has had her share of slights. In the early days of Advent, she remembers, people often assumed she wasn't the one in charge when she appeared with a male colleague.

But DiMarco says the technology field is still fertile for female entrepreneurs: "The opportunity for innovation is always there."

Hip-hop engineer: April Slayden
April Slayden knows that not all computer researchers spend their entire day sitting in cubicles and staring at screens.

Last August, the Hewlett-Packard software engineer had a hand in setting up a music system at an MTV Video Music Awards after a party hosted by rapper Sean "P.Diddy" Combs. Celebrities at the Miami event--including Paris Hilton, Carson Daly and the Olsen twins--listened just a few yards away from Slayden to digital beats created with an HP technology called DJammer. "It was exciting," Slayden recalled of her invitation. "Who would have thought--an HP software engineer?"

But not surprisingly, a thirst for glamour isn't what brought Slayden to the tech field. The 25-year-old has grooved on computers since she was about 6, when her dad showed her programs on a DOS-based machine from RadioShack. "I was just fascinated by the fact that he could make it show my name, and it could tell if I had the right answer to math problems."

A faculty mentor at Mississippi's Millsaps College encouraged her to continue with computer science after graduation, helping her to choose the tech field over medical school. Slayden earned a master's degree at the University of Rochester and ended up at HP's research arm more than two years ago.

In addition to DJammer, Slayden has worked on a project that uses robots outfitted with video screens and cameras to enable remote "telepresence."

Some scholars say women tend to view technology as a means to make a difference in society, and Slayden fits that mold. "I feel much more satisfied when I feel something I'm doing is contributing to the DJ community or world community," she said.

Computer-averse researcher: Radia Perlman
Radia Perlman is a top expert when it comes to networking protocols, but that doesn't mean she's fond of computers.

Now a "Distinguished Engineer" at Sun Microsystems, Perlman got into computing despite an aversion to the machines. "I actually didn't like computers very much--and I still don't," she said. "They're always broken for obscure reasons."

What Perlman prefers is thinking about rules for sending data from point A to point B. She did her doctoral dissertation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the topic of how to make networks sturdier, and she invented a "spanning tree" algorithm that became commonplace.

Thinking about smart communication strategies is something that comes naturally to Perlman. She even sees room for improvement in the way people clink glasses during dinner toasts. "That actually drives me crazy," Perlman said, "because it's an inefficient protocol."

Although she's a recognized leader in the field, Perlman says it wasn't always easy being a woman in tech. She's had to overcome feelings of insecurity, as well as a computer industry climate that can be intimidating.

Given that women are often humble and self-questioning, tech companies should work to tone down cut-throat cultures, Perlman suggested. "It may be that the female is every bit as good as the male--maybe better," she said. "But she's more inclined to doubt herself--and sometimes, to solve a problem, you have to believe you can do it."


Copyright ©1995-2005 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

:: Netwoman 4:04 PM [+] ::
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Blurring the Boundaries of Home and Work

I was thinking today about leisure time, and the lack of it in my life. I work a lot of hours for my teaching and research, and I use the internet (actively) for at least ten hours a day. This week, I worked between 60-70 hours and felt weird when I actually relaxed for a few minutes. I realized that I had forgotten what leisure time is and what I like to do when I am not working. Is there a time when I am not working?

Much of my leisure time is being on the internet - reading, blogging and chatting with friends and family. But work sometimes is integrated within my leisure time....Much like I told my students last week when we were discussing tele-work, there is not always a clear cut schedule; work is interpersed with the personal day to day activities. I don't have a set schedule for work - no 9-5 with weekends off. It's all day, all the time with a few snipits of real life in there somewhere. For me , this is an unintended consequence of having the internet in the home. It's not very easy to step away from the machine and do something else. Even when I moved the computer of the central living space into an office, I had hoped that I could shut the door when I am done and move on. Not the case. Perhaps this is part of life as a graduate student writing a dissertation, teaching courses and researching, but I would think that this might be something that others are feeling too.

It seems that Hilde is having some similar thoughts, is it the moon or what?

"I have of course known it for years, but I just realized that it needs its own name: leisure-working time (fritidsarbeidstid).

I have working time, when I'm 'really' working, and I have leisure time, when I'm not working. But I also have 'leisure-working time'. It is different from the 'long' working hours, because that is 'real' working time, when I for instance have to finish an article or something like that. Leisure-working time is when I use my leisure time to do work that I have to do, but don't feel that I can do in my 'real' working time'..."

:: Netwoman 3:42 PM [+] ::
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CEOs and Gender Debates

Interesting discussion over at Tom Peters about Carly Fiorina Leaving Hewlett-Packard. Some gender issues, some essentialist ideas, some ruffled feathers. Love the Blogworld.

Blog on!

:: Netwoman 1:40 PM [+] ::
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Women and Gaming

I have never been a gamer. I have always been interested in video games - I played PacMan when I was a kid, but as an adult I haven't really done it much. I play some games with my son, and I really suck at the driving games like ATV - though it can be entertaining when I drive into the water.

Every so often I get the gaming urge, like I want to try it and play - but all the games I try just don't click for me. I follow Game Girl Advance's Blog, and the Frag Dolls Rock! (did that just sound like Fraggle Rock?!). My good friend Sassy is a kick-ass gamer too. I am so envious of these gaming divas! Why can't I be one?

So when Liz blogged about getting a P2 and the Katamari Damacy game, it started me thinking again how I just haven't found a game that clicks with my interests and abilities. It also made me totally jealous.

This started me thinking about creating games and where the ideas come from. There must be others out there who experience the same thing that I do - frustration at times and a 'bummer' attitude. I want to game - but I just don't like the interface with the games....and it's not about 'women don't like violent games' - cause really, I enjoy blowing things up and taking a few bad guys out (I kick butt at arcade gun games). But it's the interaction with the game itself that needs to click with me. Is it experience? Is it skill? What is it?

Thoughts?

:: Netwoman 1:15 PM [+] ::
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Chick Wear

I was at Best Buy the other day just hanging out and looking at everything. My son and I do this every once in awhile and geek out.

I was looking at the laptop bags and saw this "Ladies Tote". I said to my son "Oh this should be good" - snicker snicker - and picked it up.

I picked up the bag and started inspecting it - inspecting it like I was a Customs Officer at the US/Canada Border. The thing is, it wasn't bad. It had lots of room, three compartments for all my paperwork and still room for my laptop and usual purse crap (wallet, cell, business cards, keys and gum). I stopped snickering. "This actually isn't so bad, I kinda like it". It sits well on the shoulder and was comfortable.

I ended up buying the darn thing and got it cheaper than I was supposed to because it was listed wrong - ha!

Here is the snazzy description in the bag:
Mobile Edge
"Why is it that in every other area of our lives we have choices for style, but when it comes to 'computer cases' they only come in one style – masculine and boring? In a hugely overlooked market we set out to design the best computer carrying case possible. The premise was simple enough - combine fashion with cutting edge technology"

Everything is pretty useful - the detachable 'cosmetic/accessory pouch' I use for my wireless card and other small tech things.

If you are curious you can view it here. Am loving this bag.

:: Netwoman 6:36 PM [+] ::
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Gendered Technology

I was just looking at some computer accessories online through Future Shop, and stumbled upon something interesting (and maybe somewhat disturbing). I am no tech wizard, my knowledge is adequate but limited - but somehow this just seems so strange to me:

Cables and Accessories:
Belkin Gender Changer DB25m
"The DB25 Male/Male Gender Changer is used to interface two cables with the same gender. It allows two female DB25 cables, or a cable and a device, to be connected" This description is rather comical "All lines wired straight-through point-to-point". Hmm straight eh, with all that gender bending?

Other examples:
Cicero MU-USB-AA/MF Retractable USB Type A Male To Female Cable
DB15 Female/Female Gender Changer
DB9 Male/Female Gender Changer

Now it is really hard to imagine gender neutral technology when things such as cables and accessories are anthropomorphized*. We need to change the tech discourse if we want to change how we think about technology. How bizarre and disturbing to picture a cable with 'prongs' as male, that inserts into something prongless with 'holes' something as female. What strange heterosexual imagery. How heterosexist.

This is almost as bad as the master/slave analogy of the main computer in my classroom (master) and those of my students (slaves). Shudder.

*To ascribe human characteristics to things not human.

:: Netwoman 4:30 PM [+] ::
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Technology allows workers to focus

Sarah Staples CanWest News Service

Monday, February 07, 2005

A U.S. company that tutors hyperactive youth using video games adapted from NASA's astronaut training program says it will take on an even tougher assignment: taming the distracted office worker's brain.

Unique Logic + Technology, Inc., a North Carolina firm whose "brain callisthenics" software is sold online to parents of ADHD children throughout Canada and the U.S., says it has been asked by one of the largest national banks in the U.S. to adapt its games to provide a mental workout for staff who are feeling overwhelmed by ringing phones and cellphones, and the continual workplace barrage of information from BlackBerrys, faxes and e-mail.

Users will don a sensor-lined helmet that monitors biofeedback -- the wearer's physiological reactions -- while they play.

There is no joystick: Players "move" objects or control the actions of onscreen personalities by concentration alone. In a stylized office featuring fax machines, computer terminals and interoffice mail, they will have to click on faxes or e-mails as they arrive, then beam them into their proper in-trays, and also recognize junk mail and remove it to the trash, using mind power alone.

A beta version of the game will be tested at five to 20 branches of the unnamed bank this spring, and could be available to the public later in the year for about US$1,800, said Peter Freer, chief executive of Unique Logic.

"One doesn't have to be bouncing off the walls to have an attention problem," he told CanWest News. "A lot of adults exhibit symptoms because we're constantly bombarded with information sources now. You start 20 projects and finish none. It's one of the biggest problems industry faces now."

Hmm. they should try this on graduate students I think....that would be interesting.

:: Netwoman 11:31 PM [+] ::
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The Social Construction of Stalker Technology

A good reason not to give out your phone number or have your information listed. Google provides you with name, address, telephone number and even a map (via Yahoo or Google) to find a person.

The red flag goes up, my spider senses are tingling - welcome to stalker technology.

It is so easy to find a person online - if we have just a phone number or a name and we want the number. I have often used reverse look up in the online dating scene to make sure the person is who they say they are, or to have additional info for safety if I meet for coffee.

We need to think of the implications of this part of internet technology. The first thing that comes to my mind are women who are trying to escape abusive partners. As violence against women continues to increase (and women are more at risk after they leave the relationships), internet technology allows creative stalkers to easily find their ex spouses/partners. There are safety issues here, and while people have the option of not being listed through Google, there are many other places where you are still accessible.

Do people know that they can be accessed so easily? If we think of the digital divide - in terms of access, use and importantly skills (see Hargittai's work), then we have a certain demographic that will be disadvantaged here. Not surprising.

I just looked up all my relatives in the USA. EEK! Too easy to find. Cringe.

Update: So I noticed that my sister's address was different then what I have in addy book. So, I email her and say - how come Google says your address is this? And she says because she moved three years ago! Lovely. I am always the last to know - where have those x-mas cards gone to? oh brother. Thanks for the update google.

:: Netwoman 10:01 PM [+] ::
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Intel's Digital Home

From Angie over at Domestic Space, Home & Technology - Insight into Intel's The Digital Home.

She's right, it is pretty cheesy. There little sayings are geeky too - "Using technology to bring families together". Hmm, we shall see when I start analysizing my thesis data, which I am doing now. I might be reporting some findings here, but I am not sure if that is ok to do. Do people do that? Is that risky?

If you are a stats wizard and use SPSS, please email me....I could use the help ;)

:: Netwoman 8:47 PM [+] ::
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Where are the Raging Grannies?

Where are the Raging Grannies? Online of course!!

New stats from Pew about Wired Seniors:

2000
# 48% of Americans between 50-64 years old had access
# 15% of Americans age 65+ had access

2001
# 50% of Americans between 50-64 years old had access
# 19% of Americans age 65+ had access

2002
# 55% of Americans between 50-64 years old had access
# 18% of Americans age 65+ had access

2003
# 59% of Americans between 50-64 years old had access
# 22% of Americans age 65+ had access

2004
# 60% of Americans between 50-64 years old had access
# 25% of Americans age 65+ had access

:: Netwoman 8:41 PM [+] ::
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Gender and the Internet

Brand new journal article - same discoveries and nothing new, but interesting anyway. I like it when people cite my article :)

Social Science Quarterly
Volume 86 Issue 1 Page 252 - March 2005

Gender and the Internet: Causes of Variation in Access, Level, and Scope of Use
Ira M. Wasserman1 and Marie Richmond-Abbott

Objective. The article examines differences in the use of the Internet by gender, with a consideration of access to the web, use of communication facilities related to email and chat rooms, frequency of use, and types of websites used. The study considers the impact of socioeconomic status and social, geographic, racial, and ethnic variables for explaining variations in the use of the web by men and women, and how these factors are mediated by knowledge of how to use the web.

Methods. The study employs data collected by the General Social Survey (GSS) in 2000, and relates access, communication levels, frequency of use, and types of sites used to gender and other relevant variables. The relevant variables are analyzed by multivariate analysis.

Results. Access to the web was independent of gender, but was related to education, race, income, age, and marital status. Women were less likely than men to chat on the web, but were slightly more likely to use email, and they utilized different types of sites than men.

Conclusions. Women access the web as frequently as men, but they communicate on the Internet differently than men, are online less than men, and utilize different types of websites than men. Knowledge related to web use is an important independent variable that influences Internet use by men and women.

:: Netwoman 8:26 PM [+] ::
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Australian Families and the Internet

Useful article for the dissertation on Australian Families and the Internet
Internet usage in Australia - the state of play in August 2000
The majority of adults were online
Internet use was frequent
Education and income related to how often the Internet was used
Children's use increased with age
The changing profile of Internet-connected households
Work and study lead the reasons for getting connected
Internet connection is mostly via a single telephone line to the home
Families differed in where they locate the Internet-connected computer
Most of the family use the Internet but parents use it the most
Families share their Internet experiences
Having fun together
Learning together
Parents are most often the family 'Internet' expert
Most users spend less than one hour online
For some the novelty of the Internet wears off over time
Email the most used Internet service
People differ in how they use the Internet
Children and teens use the Internet more for entertainment
Males use more Internet applications
Communication portals most visited sites
Children and teens surf the Internet more than their parents
The Internet is not overtaking use of other media

You can also download the PDF on the site.

:: Netwoman 8:13 PM [+] ::
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How to Fix Mom's Computer

I love this blogpost from Scribbling Net

"Went home for the holidays this week, and of course, the annual fix-Mom's-computer event. This year things on my mother-in-law's Windows 98 PC were especially bad; it could've been used as a software showcase of the latest and greatest in malware.

For future reference, here's a laundry list of steps I took to get Mom's computer working and secured from evil software.

* Deleted spyware with Ad-Aware
* Updated Windows
* Secured Internet Explorer
* Switched default web browser to Firefox
* Trimmed down startup programs
* Removed Personal Web Server
* Installed ZoneAlarm firewall
* Uninstalled unneeded applications
* Installed spyware protection with Spybot Search & Destroy
* Installed virus protection with AntiVir
* Scanned and defragmented the hard drive"

Useful checklist with useful instructions. Have to bookmark that one, as I do the trips to Mom's house as well for fic-it jobs.

:: Netwoman 10:26 PM [+] ::
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Technology Involved Female - Tif

Women Online Have New Tech Attitude, According To Survey
Survey Reveals New Woman Emerging -"Tif" the Technology Involved Female

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 8, 2004 - It's sometimes fashionable, always functional, and a growing number of women consider it an absolute must-have. It's not the latest designer outfit or high-end household appliance - it's technology. And, according to Intel Corporation's "Women, Technology and Lifestyle" online survey of American adults, released today, women are catching up with men in the way they embrace technology.

Intel commissioned Harris Interactive®, best known for the Harris Poll, to look at differences between male and female attitudes toward technology. The survey reveals that women are using computing technology in their daily lives now more than ever.

"Intel recognizes that women are a driving force in technology adoption, and it is important for us to understand how women use technology so we can meet their needs, too," said Dr. Genevieve Bell, a cultural anthropologist with Intel, who observes how people around the world use technology in daily life. "Throughout the world, women are embracing technology as part of their family and work lives, as well as for social, spiritual and romantic occasions."

Introducing "Tif" - the Technology Involved Female
A new, tech-savvy woman has emerged and Intel calls her "Tif," short for Technology Involved Female. She spans generations and backgrounds, from the young women who have grown up with technology, to women who have been exposed to technology at work, to motivated self-learners. Tif is closing the technology gender gap, with women at the youngest end of the spectrum actually surpassing men in their intent to purchase a laptop. Half of young women say their next computer will be a laptop as compared to 43 percent of men their same age.

Closing the Technology Gender Gap
Technology has become increasingly important in the daily lives of women. The Intel/Harris Interactive survey reveals women (58 percent) feel as lost as their male counterparts 1(56 percent) if they don't check email at least once per day. And, women continue to want more and more from their technology, with the majority of women (62 percent), like men (66 percent), enthusiastic about learning how to use new features on their computers.

Not often recognized as early adopters, women in the survey are revealed as leading the way with wireless Internet access, as more women than men believe this is one of the most important features for a laptop to have (39 percent women versus 29 percent men). While men (51 percent) and women (48 percent) agree that the airport tops the list of the most useful locations to have wireless Internet access, women (38 percent) are more likely than men (30 percent) to desire a connection in a doctor's office as well.

"While women have embraced technology as a useful tool in their daily lives to multi-task, stay organized and keep in touch, they are less tolerant of poor experiences - women are busy and want technology to work well right from the start," Bell said.

Since Intel's survey, "Laptops & Lifestyles," was conducted in 2002, women have become more reliant on their laptops. Eighty-seven percent now think checking a laptop at a coat check or with their luggage is too risky, as compared with 59 percent in 2002. Just two years ago 54 percent of women said they would panic if they left their laptop unattended in a public place; in 2004 that number is 87 percent.

The survey concludes that women still lag behind men in some areas including confidence in their decision to purchase computers. "According to the survey, men are more likely than women to be confident in their technology purchases," said David Krane, senior vice president of Public Policy and Public Relations Research at Harris Interactive. "It makes sense for companies, such as Intel, to focus on women as a key audience and to create programs that educate them about technology."

While women may not feel as confident, they are nearly three times as likely as men to believe that the opposite sex overstates their knowledge about computers (32 percent women versus 10 percent men).

Technology as Essential as the Little Black Dress
As women are catching up with men, technology companies are catching up with women. "Women want the same things as men - and more - when it comes to technology," said Bell. "As women, we want our computers to be like that favorite 'little black dress' - reliable and functional, there when you need it, and readily accessorized to be as individual as you are."

According to Bell, increasingly companies around the globe are manufacturing products in response to Tifs' influence. Software has been developed to keep children off certain Web sites. Companies are integrating wireless Internet access capability into computing products, allowing women the freedom to have technology everywhere. There are even changes to the design of technology to give it a more fashionable appeal. From pink laptops to fashionable cell phones with built-in mirrors and clothing-size converters - European- and Asian-born trends are beginning to emerge in the United States.

I know Dr Bell, and know she wouldn't generalize all women's experiences as being singular. This makes it sound like it a little. They really seem to talk about a certain class of women - the ones who are rushing off to the airports. In terms of wireless technology, I want the case studies that talk about how women are using wireless tech and laptops to keep up with their busy routines, some of which might be in the household. The mobile laptop that can move from room to room when you are looking after your kids, or outside and so forth. We have to remember that it is not so easily boiled down to the differences in tech needs between women and men, but also between women and women. I don't have a black dress, but I sure do have my tech gadgets. Do I want to accessorize my laptop or PC to be as individual as me? mmm not so much, other than maybe my wallpapers or backgrounds. What I want is something inexpensive, practical, reliable and light weight since I travel with it all the time. If I want to put Hello kitty Stickers on it, I will - but I won't pay extra for it.

:: Netwoman 10:14 PM [+] ::
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