Between a rock and a hard place: women and computer technology

Abstract

This paper explores certain possible reasons behind the uneasy relationship between women and technology. The cultural identification of technology with masculinity has been well documented through previous research. However, we feel it is useful to revisit this complex relationship through the scope of a more subtle distinction between ‘users’ and ‘connoisseurs’, and the struggle over power, which revolves around a specific form of hegemonic masculinity. We draw on interviews that examine students’ experiences, emotions, and statements about gender, technology, mathematics, and education, and we try to offer an understanding of the ways women negotiate their position within the dominant discourse about computing and mathematics. Our analysis employs post-structuralist discourse theory.

Keywords:

• gender
• computer technology
• subjectivity
• discourse
• education
• geeks

Acknowledgements

We thank all students who participated in the study, which was part of the project ‘Mathematics and Technologies in Education: The gender perspective’ EPEAK Pythagoras I (co-funded by the Greek Ministry of Education and the European Union) 2004–2007, Project leader: Anna Chronaki.

Notes

1. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087197/, accessed 14/05/12.

2. The fact that the development of educational software also presupposes programming skills is completely obscured by the gendered connotations of working in education. The association with the ‘feminine’ seems to compensate for interfering with things ‘masculine’.

3. Working in the private sector in Greece in most cases means that it is expected that employees work after hours (usually without getting paid for their extra time).