Girls and Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) – What the research is telling us

An analysis of student participation at all levels of education reveals that women are significantly underrepresented in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT). Recent studies in Australia showed that girls were more inclined than boys to see IT as boring (36% compared to 16%) or difficult (23% to 11%). These factors result in more boys than girls studying technology related subjects. Analysis of High School Certificate (HSC) 2002 computer programming student population revealed that only 17% of the total entrants were female. The trend is also demonstrated in the TAFE sector with women comprising approximately 40% of all Information Technology enrolments for 2001. This indicates a decrease in enrolment share from 1996 when women accounted for 50% of IT enrolments.

Whilst young women are not participating in ICT subjects at school to the same extent as their male counterparts, this does not mean that they are not interested in computer technology. Research reveals that girls and women use computer technology widely but in different ways to boys and men. DiDio (1996) and Brimmer (1997) found that girls use ICT for social reasons such as chatting and meeting people whereas boys tend to be more interested in playing games, hacking and learning about technology. In terms of educational interest, Brunner suggests that computer technology needs to be introduced to girls as doing something specific rather than as an end in itself.

The Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) study Real Time: Computers, change and schooling (1999) found that girls are falling behind boys in attainment of advanced ICT skills, despite showing considerable interest in computer technology. Girls and boys are equally competent in basic computing skills, which they tend to develop at school. The study found that where girls do not learn advanced computer skills at home, they tend not to acquire them at all.

How ICT subjects are taught in schools has a major impact on girls’ attitudes towards these subjects, according to Newmarch, Taylor-Steele and Cumpston (2000) who found that girls considered ICT subjects to be too theoretical, rigidly structured and boring. Girls in the study commented that they found working on individual projects to be less rewarding and satisfying than working on group projects. A focus on software packages that girls associated with secretarial work was also a disincentive for interest in ICT subjects.

The Reality Bytes (2001) report cites the lack of positive IT role models for young women, both real and within fictional popular culture, as problematic. Those that are available tend to reinforce negative stereotypes of IT workers. Popular culture tends to portray workers in the computer technology sector as socially inept, isolated, working in sterile environments or as obsessive and sometimes sinister personalities.

It is also interesting to note that the few popular culture movies that show women actively engaged with computer technology depict them as encountering danger or harassment as a result of their technology use. For example, Sandra Bullock in The Net and Sigourney Weaver in Copycat are both victimised on account of their use of computers (Rowan, Knobel, Bigum and Lankshear, 2002).

Researchers in the area suggest the following strategies to overcome some of the above factors:

• Introduce students to a wide variety of computing applications in order to develop an appreciation of the possible uses of computers
• Dispel inaccurate images of computers and IT careers through direct experience with positive role models
• Make explicit to students the connections between ICT subject content and the world of work (Scott, 1996)
• Integrate computer use across the curriculum to invite more girls into technology through a broad range of subjects
• Communicate to students the information that all jobs in the future will involve the use of more and more ICT
• Challenge and critique stereotypes about gender and ICT (Chalmers and Price, 2000).

• AAUW (American Association of University Women) (2000) Tech-Savvy: Education Girls in the New Computer Age. Executive Summary. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women.
• Brunner, C. (1997) Opening technology to girls Electronic Learning in Your Classroom, 16(4), 55.
• Chalmers, C. & Price, P. (2000) Promoting gender equity in the information technology classroom, Australian Educational Computing, Vol 15 (1) p. 13-16 .
• DiDio, L (1996) IS: Where the girls aren't, Computerworld, 30 (47), 106.
• Meredith, D., Russell, N., Blackwood, L., Thomas, J. & Wise, P. (1999) Real Time: Computers, change and schooling, Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
• Newmarch, E., Taylor-Steele, S., & cumpston, A. (2000) Women in IT – What are the barriers? Paper presented at the Network for Women in Further Education Conference, March.
• Rowan, L., Knobel, M., Bigum, C. & Lankshear, C (2002) Boys, literacies and schooling: The dangerous territories of gender-based literacy reform, Buckingham: Open University Press.
• Scott, V. (1996) Why are girls under represented? Ten years on, in Australian Educational Computing, 11(1), p.17-21.
• State Government Victoria (2001) Reality Bytes: an in-depth analysis of attitudes about technology and career skills.