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gURLs and Technology: Sparking Their Interest, Sustaining Their Resolve
by Mary Zimmerle

While digital divide issues exist for low-income people who do not have access to a computer or basic skills to use the technology available to them, gender based divides are also especially potent. Many people are under the assumption that this divide has always been wide and is slowly closing. This assumption is not entirely accurate. While the March 1997 Gallup poll found that girls and boys, ages 13 and 17, have similar skill levels and understanding of general computer skills, bachelor’s degrees awarded to men and women in computer science per year have dropped significantly from 1985 to 1995. The women’s decline of 51% was drastically steeper than the men’s 28%. In 1999, only 17% of students who took the AP Computer Science exam were women (Getting Girls Interested in Computer Science and the National Science Foundation).

Theories point to a variety of reasons for the decline in women’s interest in computer science. These include the anti-social and awkward image that computer scientists hold in popular media, the lack of female mentors for young girls who may be interested in computers, the male-centered video games that comprise the majority of the marketed game industry and the types of teaching methods that are employed in most computer-related fields (10 Tips and Ethical Considerations).

Because service-learning activities often use computers for a variety of tasks, from simple letter writing to more complex web design, it can help open the doors of technology to girls who may not otherwise know how to further their interests in computers. Since girls may also lack confidence in math and science, a lack that often carries over into the computer world. Help your female students build confidence in and gain exposure to this field by encouraging them to spearhead technology-based projects. This leadership on the girls’ part will do all students a favor, by illustrating to girls and boys alike, that unlike common media portrayals of computer programmers and electrical engineers, women can excel and succeed in such technological tasks.

You may not be a computer science teacher or web designer yourself, but simply exposing your female students to more complex computer applications and professionals at a young age will create possibilities for them in the future. Invite a female computer scientist, designer or engineer to your classroom to talk about her career. She can explain what careers in technology entail and mentor the students during some of the more rigorous computer activities involved with your service-learning project. Having a computer scientist talk to the class will also ensure that students understand what that field is all about. Most children have little conception of what computer science really is and can often confuse it with general computer skills. When they learn how varied and exciting the field can be, from video game design, to software creation, to robotics, the girls’ interests may be more intensely sparked.

If you would like to take a more direct approach to tackle the gender digital divide, have your upper middle school or high school students examine how men and women are portrayed in the media relating to computer science, and how and to whom video games are marketed. After they complete their research, report their results and reflect upon what they have found, they can then launch a campaign in the elementary or middle schools that encourages younger girls to utilize and be excited about technology. If the excitement of these children, both girls and boys, can be sustained, the likelihood of their interest and presence in the computer field will increase.

Getting Girls Interested in Computer Science
http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/club/girls3.html

Report from the National Science Foundation:
Science and Engineering Bachelor's Degrees Awarded to Women Increase Overall, but Decline in Several Fields
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/databrf/sdb97326.htm

Article about the relationship between gender and video games:
Ethical Considerations in Gender-Oriented Entertainment Technology
http://info.acm.org/crossroads/xrds2-2/gender.html

10 Tips on Getting Girls Interested in Computers and Links to Women and Girls in Technology
http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/club/girls.html