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Young girls are faced with a problem many of us
do not even see. The world of technology is unbalanced in the area of gender.
Like many things in our society, technology is a male dominated culture.
Although people generally conclude that girls do not like computers, it turns
out that they actually just don’t like certain aspects of the current use of
computers. While boys are often aggressive and competitive, making shoot-em-up
games perfectly appropriate, girls tend to be more cooperative and
communication based. Girls see computers as a tool with which to accomplish a
goal or serve a purpose, while boys will just play games or tinker on a
computer for fun. For these reasons,
girls find computer games boring and repetitive, and because other software is
also designed for the male perspective, girls turn off to computers all
together.
As a result of the cultural
gender bias in computing, popular portrayals of the field, for example in
advertising, almost always depict male computer scientists. Thus, the current
image of computing remains based on the “computer geek” who sits in front of a
computer and programs all day long. It is this impression of computer science
that deters girls from exploring computers.
Sites for Girls
Sites for Gender Inequality in Technology