Volume 1 Issue 1 16 March 1998

Introduction Gender Inequalities in Education Girls: Just Look Beautiful Teacher of the Year? Hammers Are For Boys and Needles Are For Girls Gender, Computing, and Kids The Gender Gap in the Computing Field Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Whitmore High School: A Case Study of Computer Usage Part One: The Bright, White Boys' Lunch Club Part Two: Girls and Computer Science Boys Muscle Girls Out Girls Need Space Bennet School Computer Projects for Mother and Daughter Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science Computers and Technology: Differences In Gender Gender Bias In Educational Software Educational Software For Girls Purple Moon: Thanks but No Thanks for Rockett's New School Girl Tech - Not Girl Friendly Enough Her Interactive Broderbund - Classroom Software Done Right Computers In the Classroom: What is the Effect on the Gender Gap? Beyond Equal Access Last Words About the Authors References

Computers and Technology: Differences In Gender This excerp is taken from Janese Swanson's doctoral research on gender differences. COMPUTERS AND TECHNOLOGY Research shows that many girls think of technology as belonging to the "male" world (like football and tinkering with car engines). At home, three times as many girls as boys said they did not use their computers at all. Five times as many boys as girls used the technology more than anyone else in the family. Parents purchased technology twice as much for their sons as their daughters. At school, only a quarter of the students using computers during free time were girls. In computer camps, researchers found that girls are less likely to be enrolled. At video arcades, the few girls that were seen usually watched the boys play. In 1995, a nine month poll of 1,200 families revealed that before the fourth through seventh grades, young girls actually spend about one hour more per week on computers than young boys. After that, girls' usage dropped off. A study found that girls use computers more for learning and word processing, whereas boys use computers more for games. Girls are discouraged from computer use for the following reasons: teachers and parents assume that girls are not as interested as boys and encourage them less. there are few adult and peer female role models. computers are associated with machines and math, both of which are thought of as male domains. software has not been developed with girls' interests in mind. computers are used less in language, arts and humanities classrooms where teachers tend to be female and the population of girls is more dominant.

Date Last Modified: 3/15/98
© 1998 Huang, Ring, Toich, Torres. All rights reserved.