GENDER AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Women in ICT Education & Industry in Australia

ABSTRACTThis presentation will explore one aspect of the Digital Divide, discussed in recent literature with regards to gender differences in how information and communication technologies are utilised and accessed by both sexes. It has been found that women are underrepresented in information and communication technology (ICT) higher education courses as well as the Information Technology (IT) industry in Australia. This has the resultant effect of creating a skills shortage and gender inequality in an ever expanding knowledge & computer based society. Policies regarding the Australian economy are shifting their focus to creating green ICT related jobs which will require more technical computer skills. Therefore it is imperative that the IT sector considers leveraging all kinds of diversity, especially gender diversity, to not only increase their productivity but to facilitate innovation of ICT’s and market them to an equally diverse society. To exclude women whether intentionally or other from this important industry is to the detriment of not only that industry but all of society.

INTRODUCTIONThe ICT service industry is one of the fastest growing

industries in Australia with an annual growth rate of 12% yet only 16% of women account for ICT roles and represent

only 1% of the total female employed population”. It is only logical to contend that diverse range of people should contribute meaningfully to this industry to help shape &

influence applications of IT in business, health & education. However the underrepresentation of women in Higher Education courses involving ICT is a serious issue and

presents as a digital divide (DD) at a number of levels. Kelly (2008) suggests the DD exists at three levels. Firstly we will

explore any differences in access & uses of internet & computers between males & females in Australia. Secondly

we will discover how females & males are educated in computers throughout school & higher education. Thirdly

we understand the ways that socio-cultural influences shape both sexes but morseo females in regards to ICT

career choices. ITCRA statistics show that 52% of IT professionals in Australia have an ICT related degree, 13%

have Industry/Vendor certificate, 13% have TAFE qualification & 9% have no ICT qualification. Yet women

tend not to be holding those degrees & work in lower paid, lower level ICT jobs. If women are not actively encouraged & supported to enter these ICT degrees it is possible that

the ICT industry or even the Australian workforce - with its focus on economic development through green ICT jobs -

will become so male dominated as to create a majorly imbalanced & diminutive workforce.

WHAT DIGITAL DIVIDE ? Early definitions referred to GAP that existed between the “haves & “have nots” who did/didn’t have ACCESS to Computers and Internet.

This ACCESS divide was actively addressed through national interventions and funding grants but then a secondary divide began to appear along social stratification lines such as class, race, gender, education level, household income.

Now also refers to a GAP in intensity and nature of IT use OR “inequalities in the degree to which it is used, knowledge of how to extract/evaluate information & the variety of uses to which it is put”. It is this GAP that has been especially significant for WOMEN.

GENDER DIGITAL DIVIDE – MALES VS FEMALES

They behave & perform differently causing a GAP in relation to:

a) Confidence & computer self-efficacy – females lower levels

b) Computer & Programming experience – males higher levels

c) Selecting Computer subjects as a major in High School & University – males choose this more

d) Levels of Computer anxiety – females highere) Preferences in how they use the Computer

& Internet - somewhat differently

INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM OF INDIVIDUALISTIC WESTERN NATIONS

THREE LEVELS OF DIGITAL DIVIDE – FRAMEWORK FOR THIS DISCUSSION

1. Level 1 Digital Divide - Physical access to computational resources and internet

2. Level 2 Digital Divide - Effect of instruction on students use of computers

3. Level 3 Digital Divide - Influence of Socio-cultural background in shaping behaviour & perspectives toward computer use

VISUALISING THE DIVIDE

FEMALE COMMENCING STUDENTS AS A % OF TOTAL COMMENCING STUDENTS (WITHIN IT STREAMS) AUSTRALIA

FIG 1.

2001 2002 2003 200410

15

20

25

30

35

Info SystIT not elseInf techComp sci

VISUALISING THE DIVIDE

EMPLOYED PERSONS, ICT OCCUPATIONS 1999 – 2006 AUSTRALIA

1999

-200

0

2000

-200

1

2001

-200

2

2002

-200

3

2003

-200

4

2005

-200

60.000

50.000

100.000

150.000

200.000

250.000

300.000

350.000

MalesFemales

“BROGRAMMERS” CODE: GENDER GAP A CHILDHOOD ISSUE

SILICON Valley companies portray themselves as inventors of the future, but they're afflicted by a longstanding problem.

From board rooms to "brogrammers," men still dominate many corners of the tech industry, where the pantheon of famous founders - from Hewlett and Packard to Jobs to Zuckerberg - is still a boys' bastion.

The gender-imbalance issue came to the forefront again recently when a partner at the country's most prominent venture capital firm filed a sexual harassment lawsuit alleging a former colleague retaliated against her for years after she cut off a brief relationship with him. The firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has denied the allegations.

Whatever the merits of the claim, the suit again has put a spotlight on the tech industry's gender gap.

Jocelyn Goldfein, a director of engineering at Facebook, the math is stark.

Less than 20 percent of the bachelor's degrees in computer science go to women, according to US statistics. By comparison, nearly 60 percent of all bachelor's degrees are awarded to graduating females.

“BROGRAMMERS” CODE: GENDER GAP A CHILDHOOD ISSUE

The company wants to hire top engineers, but the talent pool in the US is growing thin, she said. Ms Goldfein said she doesn't look to hire female engineers specifically, just the best people. But she said she'd have a lot more to choose from if women entered computer science at a rate anywhere near the average for all fields.

She blames the lack of role models both in popular culture and in day-to-day life as a key reason for the disparity.

"The reason there aren't more women computer scientists is because there aren't more women computer scientists," she said.

Women in other professions such as medicine and law have become fixtures on television and in movies in recent decades, while portrayals of programmers still tend to follow the hacker stereotype of the lone guy sitting in his basement, she said.

Unless their parents are engineers, girls also aren't likely to encounter coders in their own lives the same way they would, for example, a doctor or a teacher.

"We don't really have that same kind of interaction with software engineers as we go about our daily lives," Ms Goldfein said.

"Sometimes it can be hard," said Serena Yeung, 23, a recent Stanford graduate who worked as a software engineer at a Silicon Valley start-up before returning for graduate school. Just walking into the classroom is one of the biggest hurdles for women thinking of entering the field, she said. "You go in and you're the only girl in it."

“BROGRAMMERS” CODE: GENDER GAP A CHILDHOOD ISSUE

For Ms Yeung, having parents who were both engineers spared her the sense that computers weren't for girls.

She got her first job as a programmer at Mountain View-based Rockmelt, which makes a web browser with built-in social media features. She started working there even before she graduated with her degree in electrical engineering, another coding-intensive field where men heavily outnumber women.

Rockmelt CEO Eric Vishria says the competition to hire qualified women software engineers has heated up as companies see that they need diverse perspectives to build products that attract the widest audience. He said startups that don't hire women early in their existence risk creating a male-dominated culture that will put off potential female hires.

"It becomes a death spiral, it becomes self-fulfilling," Ms Vishria said. "You have 15 guys in a room, that's your company, and it becomes harder and harder to hire your first woman."

Ms Yeung said a recent experience at a Stanford Society of Women Engineers event for elementary school students showed her that intervention needs to come early to steer girls toward tech. She said girls who had just come from a computer science workshop complained they didn't like it because the boys asked all the questions.

Steeped in video game culture and barraged by positive male tech industry role models, boys tend to dominate conversations around computing early on, leaving girls feeling shut out, said Ms Yeung.

ECHOES FROM THE COMPUTER CLASSROOM

Women don’t have good

logic (iii)

He’s always looking over my shoulder & criticising my work (b)

Women aren’t adept at working hard & find computers

too challenging

ii)

Computers are a man’s

world & toys for boys (c)

Computer science is drier & more thinking (i)

When things go wrong with the Computer I feel anxious (a)

ICT is full of geeks & nerds &

antisocial males (d)

LEVEL 1 DIGITAL DIVIDE – L1DD – AUSTRALIAACCESS TO INTERNET BY GENDER (2006)

15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 54-640

10

20

30

40

50

60

70 Males Nil Net

Males BB

Males Dialup

Females Nil Net

Females BB

Females Dialup

L1DD: GENDER RELATED USES OF INTERNETAUSTRALIA - ABS – 2010-2011

Buyin

g/se

lling

Creat

ing

onlin

e co

nten

t

Liste

ning

/ wat

chin

g m

ultim

edia

Educ

atio

nal p

urpo

ses

Emai

ling

Payi

ng b

ills

Socia

l net

worki

ng/ g

amin

g0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Activities performed on home Internet by gender

MalesFemales

Activities performed

Perc

enta

ge (

%)

L1DD – ACCESS & USE - RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE, GENDER & OPPORTUNITY TAKING - UK

9-11yrs 12-15yrs 16-17yrs 18-19yrs4

5

6

7

8

MaleFemale

L2DD – COMPUTER INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOL : A CONSTELLATION OF FACTORS

COMPUTER INSTRUCTION

Under-resourcing of low SES

schools IT equip

Unsound School Careers Advice

Underqualified ICT teachers

Unstimul-ating Coursework

Tutorial Software geared for males

Students avoid ICT subjects

due to grades

LEVEL 2 DIGITAL DIVIDE

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENROLMENTS TO COMPLETIONS BY GENDER. AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES

2006 2007 2008 2009 20100

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Males EnrolFemales EnrolMales ComplFemales Compl

L2DD - REASONS WOMEN DON’T ENTER ICT HIGHER EDUCATION OR LEAVE BEFORE COMPLETION

o Negative Computer class experiences – when females are paired with males – males take over

o Lack of Role models to encourage them into the field – High school & University

o Inadequate institutional support

o Lack of peer-support groups

o Lack of gender-neutral but stimulating projects in course

L3DD – SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCESTHEORIES OF GENDER DIGITAL DIVIDE

Essentialism – suggest females are biologically not suited to technical work.

Social Construction – suggests females have been nurtured to believe they aren’t suited to technical work. Influenced by Gender Stereotypes.

Theory of Individual Differences (Trauth 2002) IT capability & interest spans the gender continuum & individual differences are a product of gender & socialisation within & between cultures

Computer Anxiety

Computer attitudes

Computer performanc

e

Attribution patterns

Gender Stereotype

Stereotype Threat

L3DD-A MODEL OF GENDER-BASED DIGITAL DIVIDE

L3DD - MODEL OF GENDER-BASED DIGITAL DIVIDE WHATS HAPPENING FOR THE FEMALES

Socio-cultural Gender Stereotypes appear at young age promoting what suits boys vs girls

Leading to a level of Computer Anxiety for girls Computer software is more appealing to males so girls

tend to dislike certain software Social Context - Mixed gender computer classes where

males dominate leading to increased anxiety for girls Parents & teachers make attributions re students

success/failure with computers = Attribution Patterns

Girls develop more negative attributions as well as negative Computer Attitudes & this increases their anxiety

A negative Stereotype Threat leads to poorer Computer Performance for females

INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FACTORS INFLUENCING GIRLS CAREER CHOICES – LEVEL 1,2,3

WOMEN IN ICT : A POSITIVE CASE STUDY

THE NEGATIVES - REASONS WOMEN DON’T ENTER OR LEAVE ICT INDUSTRY

Connection versus Competition - Competitive culture – Many women Connections over Competition

Lack of social support – fewer females to talk to or look up to

Male dominated industry & culture – higher probability to experience male domination or sexual harassment.

Long working hours where overtime is the norm Carer versus Career - Lack of flexibility to balance

family & work commitments ICT may be a solitary & isolating career. Lower pay rates for women & lack of advancing career

opportunities Difficulties returning to industry after short career

breaks due to rapid rate of change in industry

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ADDRESS GENDER DIGITAL DIVIDE IN AUSTRALIA

Must be addressed at all levels of education given that socio-cultural & stereotyping influences begin from young age.

Imperative for educators at all levels to negotiate innovation & interventions.

Research & Innovation – at all levels where problem of Gender Imbalance exists

Conferences & Organisations – AWISE. Support & Leadership – Mentoring programs

in high school, higher education and ICT workplaces.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Griffith University Queensland WinIT Project Mentoring programs in High Schools

Action Research projects – to reflect & act on qualitative/descriptive/interpretive evidence in each unique contextual ICT domain.

Gender & Information Technology Encyclopaedia Trauth (2006) Comprehensively explores the

intensive research conducted & issues related to Women & IT from varied perspectives & different countries.

CONFERENCES & ORGANISATIONS

o Women in ICT summit held Sept 2005 in Australia – organised by Federal Minister for Communications, IT, and Arts – Helen Coonan

o Women in ICT Advisory Group also launched

o Summit addressed 4 main topics How ICT professions should be represented How to make ICT workplace attractive for women How to ensure curriculum design & career advice address

ICT needs in Australia Coordinate a national approach to enhancing women’s

participation in ICT

CONFERENCES & ORGANISATIONS

AWISE (Australian Women in IT & Science Entity) offers:

A Collaborative voice connecting existing ICT networks of women working on the problem of women’s under-representation in ICT studies & work

Entity has 5 Goals A National single point of contact Encourage more females into ICT Share information & initiatives A centralised national body to influence Govt & Media Obtain National funding to support agreed upon

initiatives

WHAT IS BEING DONE ? NOT BEING DONE ? Efforts to increase number of women into ICT

Higher Education have not been successful on the whole

Efforts to encourage women to participate in the ICT industry have been more focussed but as yet no clear outcomes or improvements have been realised.

Efforts to adjust the way that Computer-based Instruction is conducted in Primary & High Schools is lagging.

REFERENCESABS (2005 & 2006) Australian Labour market Statistics: Employment in ICT

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/6105.0Feature%20Article5Jan%202005

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/6105.0Feature%20Article2Oct%202006

ABS (2006) Internet Access by Females by Age Group; Internet access by males by age group.

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/8146.0.55.0012006?OpenDocument

ABS (2010-2011) Household Use of Information technology: Activities performed on Internet at home in last 12 months

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/8146.02010-11?OpenDocument

Adya, M. & Kaiser,K. 2005, ‘Early determinants of women in the IT workforce: a model of girls' career choices’. Information Technology & People, Vol 18 Iss 3 pp.230 - 259

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DEEWR ( 2010) Ucube Higher Education Statistics http://www.highereducationstatistics.deewr.gov.au/

Jackson,L.& Zhao, Y.& Kolenic, A & Fitzgerald, H. & Harold, R. & VonEye,A. 2008, ‘Race,Gender, & Information Technology use: The New Digital Divide’. CyberPsychology & Behaviour, Vol 11 Iss 4 p437-442

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OECD 2012, ICT skills & Employment: New Competences & Jobs for a Greener & Smarter Economy. OECD Digital Economy Papers. No 198 Subject resource

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Stoilescu, D. & McDougall, D. 2011, ‘Gender Digital Divide & challenges in Undergraduate Computer Science programs.’ Canadian Journal of Education. Vol 34 Iss1 pp 308-333

Trauth, E. ed 2006, Encyclopaedia of Gender & Information technology. Vol A-G & H-Z. Idea Group, Melbourne, Australia

Warschauer, M. & Matuchniak, T. 2010 ‘New Technology in Digital worlds: Analysing Evidence of Equity in Access Use & Outcomes’ Review of Research in Education. Vol 34 pp179-225 Subject Resource

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Youtube Clips: Cultural Dimension: Me or we http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW7aWKXB5J4

Women in ICT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLBvMCXmwvE

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Beyer, S. 2006 ‘Comparing gender differences in Computer science & Management Information Systems Majors’. Encyclopaedia of Gender and Information technology. Vol1 p109-115

Clayton, K. 2006 ‘Attitudes towards ICT in Australian High Schools’ Encyclopaedia of Gender and Information technology. Vol1 p44-49

Craig, A. 2006 ‘A Historical Persepective of Australian Women in Computing’ Encyclopaedia of Gender and Information technology. Vol2 pp752-758

Crump, B., Logan, K., McIlroy, A. 2006 ‘Computing in A New Zealand Community’ Encyclopaedia of Gender and Information technology. Vol1 pp129-133

Durndell, A. & Miller, J. 2006 ‘Gender, IT, & Educational Choice in East &West Europe’ Encyclopaedia of Gender and Information technology. Vol 1 pp693-698

Miliszewska, I. 2006 ‘Gender Bias in Computer Courses in Australia’ Encyclopaedia of Gender and Information technology. Vol 1 pp501-506

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Staehr, L., Byrne, G., Bell.E. 2006 ‘Gender & the Australian IT Industry’ Encyclopaedia of Gender and Information technology. Vol1 pp467-473

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