Gender and IT: An Overview

1. Gender and IT: An Overview Erin!

2. History • Women have traditionally been kept out of the history of computer science. • First machine-readable algorithm: Ada Lovelace, London, early 1800s. • ENIAC, 1946: Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, designed originally for calculations for Hydrogen Bomb: Six women were main original programmers (Light, 1999). • First textbook in computer science: Computer Science: A First Course, was co-authored in 1969 by Alexandra Forsythe

3. Gender and IT Work • More men in decision-making; more women in manual labor. • “Deskilling” in general • Also extends to “developing” and “developed” countries; women in developing countries are sources of cheap labor, exploited. • How do you divide brain work and hand work? • 2007-2008 CS recipients of (Taulbee Survey): • Bachelors: M 88.2%, F 11.8% • Masters: M 78.8%, 21.2% • PhD: M 79.4%, 20.6% • What about in Hagenberg? • Not just about gender… • Overall in U.S., African-Americans make up about 14% of population but only 4% of all CS bachelor’s and 1.5% of all CS PhD degrees.

4. But why? • “Socialist feminist approaches suggest… that men dominate the creation of new technologies, since access to venture capital, geographic mobility, and ability to work long hours may be as critical to the success of start-ups as is technological expertise” (Rosser, 2005) • Women are seen as “exceptional” in computer science, furthering the idea that that they do not belong – outsiders. (Beyer, et al.) • Women’s biology cited as “natural” reason they are in more manual labor - Dexterity, delicate fingers… but also ability to telecommute allows for childcare duties. • Negative stereotypes of women in CS; low levels of confidence in sciences in general (Beyer, et al.). • But why…?

5. What does this mean? • Implications for the workers • Lower wages • Lowered physical well-being • Less access to decision-making • Less ownership • No history – no collective identity • Implications for the users • Less technology designed for a diverse population

6. Values in Design? • Would women and men design differently? • Gilligan: Ethic of care; women see the world more relationally, while men see it more individually (justice-based) – Gender socialization theory. • Several studies indicate the same… but mostly performed on undergradutes • Stereotype? Natural? • Occupational socialization theory? • Positionality/intersectionality • Other factors? • Gender value… • Facebook: Male, Female, or none • Trickle down effect…

7. Access… • In the U.S., we have Internet filters in public libraries to protect children (value?). • Many rely on public computers for information: jobs, general research, health. • Libraries required to place filters on Internet searches to block content, “bad” words, or lose funding. • Some of these words crucial (i.e. “breast”) for health information, for example, are being blocked. • Censorship? • More and more information online… • Lack of access due to physical barriers (filters) • Intellectual barriers (lack of skills) • Financial barriers (cannot buy, have to work)

8. IP… • Female faculty receive patents in the life sciences at a rate of 40% of that of men (so more than a 2:1 ratio of men to women) (Ding et al., 2006). • Reasons cited: • Lack of establishment/network in profession • Not wanting to hinder other academic responsibilities • Higher rate of co-patenting • IP requires: • Time • Money • Knowledge of procedures • More resources = more patents = more resources

9. IP Continued… • What can be patented? • Traditionally “female” vs. “male” creations • Public/private divide • Economically viable • Creative, original – “objective”; one author one work • Plants: India • Does IP as it stands suffice for ALL individuals? • Community property • Values in sharing • Objective/subjective stance • What about technology (software, etc…)

10. Gaming • Who is represented? • Study by Williams, et al. (2009) of 150 games over 9 platforms • Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 (PS2), PlayStation (PS), Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Nintendo Gameboy Advance (GBA), Nintendo Dual Screen (DS) and PC. • The overall difference for male/female representation is 85.23/14.77. • “Whites and Asians are over-represented and all other groups are underrepresented” • African-Americans over-represented in sports games (reality) • Allows individuals to “play” with gender?

11. Gender breakdown…

12. Race breakdown…

13. Gaming continued • Who are the players? • 50.9% Female and 49.1% Male U.S. population; 40/60 gamers. • African American and Hispanic youths play games at the highest rates(Rideout et al., 2005) in the U.S. • Why does it matter? • Shaping one’s worldview • Ascribing particular identity traits to particular individuals; Stereotypes • Feeling of being left out (less female gamers?) • Powerlessness; not in primary characters • Less likely to get into technology, game design • So on one hand bad for identity…? Any girl gamers?

14. Privacy • A “value” of society, right? • Feminists might disagree: • “…move to ensure autonomy in intimate relations with respect to the body, home, and family relations does nothing to help women, since the values of individual bodily integrity, exercise of moral intelligence, and freedom of intimacy are not guaranteed to women… as long as the public does not interfere, autonomous individuals interact freely and equally.” (DeCew paraphrasing MacKinnon, p. 83) • Laws that protect the privacy of the family may be ignoring the power differentials within that sphere. (Okin) • Women have always been in the “private” sphere – used to justify their lowered status.

15. Research Ethics • Women have been traditionally excluded from clinical trials due to the “potential” to have children • Unborn children may be hurt by drug testing; this fear has resulted in lack of studies on women • Less health knowledge, less access to drugs that work specifically for women • Example: Heart disease • How to protect everyone involved?

16. Online communities… • According to McKee and Porter (2010), a recent Google search for “women’s groups online” revealed 150,000 hits • …but on the other hand good for identity? • Anyone – WITH ACCESS – can have a group online, find support, share comments; express selves without “fear.” • You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your MMORPG… from around the globe. • Can BE whomever you want, whether that is your “real” identity or not. Don’t have “tick boxes” (Adam, p. 150); more easily disguise yourself online. “Safe” environment (p. 152).

17. Exclusivity? • Is it as utopian as it seems? • “Simply providing access to technology does not break down barriers of inequality” (Adam, p. 162) • Definitely not a “liberalist” way of thinking… • Congregate with like-minded individuals; exclusionary • Do inequalities magically go away? • Gender differences in online behavior? • “Public” forums open themselves up to trolling • Magnify certain behaviors online • Unknown identity – less repercussions? • Harassment • Cyberstalking • Lying (Online dating…)

18. Whether gender is constructed or not… • Those of every gender have unique experiences within their position in society • Same applies to race, class, etc. • Parallels to gender between those well-off and those that are the worst off. • Adam (in textbook) cites additional groups (disabled, age); also those in developing countries, immigrants, minorities • White men best off? Majority? Greater good?

19. Gender and Ethics • Technology is involved in almost every aspect of our life, whether we “choose” it or not. • Some groups are systematically excluded from technology production, use, and ownership because of their identity. • The potentially “liberating” quality of technology can also bring harm to certain groups of persons.

20. What to do? • Changing social norms? • Can this keep up with the technology? • Technology is international – gender differences are not. • Equality legislation • Adam, p. 148: • “…rather than strengthening the battle against discrimination, may, instead, weaken it, as attention is deflected from the material experiences of different types of discrimination”

21. Some feminist thoughts… • Liberal viewpoint: • Educate • Encourage • Gender is equalized by placing women into positions that men formerly held. • But is this enough? • Radical viewpoint: • Remove men completely! • Technology FOR women? (i.e. We produce reproductive technologies to encourage women to remain in their childrearing role) • Socialist (or, historical, or materialist) viewpoint: • Seek to understand economic, cultural sources of inequalities and change them; drawing connections between capitalism, patriarchy • Understand that current structures do not encourage equality, so work to change them

22. Feminist ethics • “Utilitarianism argues for the greatest good for the greatest number. But who is to decide whether one good is better than another? We do not all have an equal say.” • Recognizes the power structures in ethical decision-making • Relational

23. Cyborg feminism • Haraway, 1991: Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature • Bodies are not “natural” but are constructed by society • Is that fact that women have babies “natural,” or do we think that because all technologies are created to “help” women in this pursuit? Creates a value? • Should not try to fuse all women under a single identity but fuse differences together, like a machine or cyborg; we are all “pieced together” and one side is not above another. • Technology as liberating = we construct ourselves

24. Postmodern Feminism • “First of all, they are of course not uniform across all women or across all social classes, nationalities and cultures. Then, making the link between women’s needs and the consequently desirable features of an IT system is a vexed question, and one that is too often dealt with in an essentialist manner by reference to the supposedly universal characteristics of women IT users (for example, as lacking in confidence with computers, as disinterested in computers except as tools, as caring and sociable rather than rational and technical). • Feminist design initiatives have often encountered this difficulty. Most have addressed it by focusing away from the eventual characteristics of the IT products which they shape, and towards the processes of shaping which offer scope for permanently redefining the role of female users in systems design.” (Webster quoted by Rosser)

25. Cyberfeminism • Cyberfeminism: A woman-centered perspective that advocates women’s use of new information and communications technologies of empowerment. Some cyberfeminists see these technologies as inherently liberatory and argue that their development will lead to an end to male superiority because women are uniquely suited to life in the digital age. (Millar, 1998) • A desire – and action – to make the use and production of technology equal for all (with a specific focus on gender). Noting inequalities, and USING technology to bring equality. • Problems • How to make it coherent? • Not questioning the technology itself

26. Questions: • What are the ethical implications of leaving women out of IT “brain” work, engineering, design? Are there any? Would the inclusion of more women make a difference? • Should more women be included in technology by: • Changing policies to fit women into - or give them more access to - existing technologies? • Changing technologies to account for gendered values? • Am I completely crazy and you think I’m focusing too much on gender differences? Is it really that bad? Do men and women really think that differently? What about the men? • Does the Internet allow for more equal participation in society? Less? How? Why?