Gender Issues in Internet & Technology Use Konrad Morgan Department of Mathematics and Computing Science

Purpose of Presentation Concern at continuing gender imbalance in technology based education and industry Shortfall in skilled computing staff world-wide and especially in the developing regions Scarcity of females in computing can be detected from earliest stages of education Reflects continuing gender imbalance in society Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Individual Difference of Gender Gender is one of the major individual differences Relatively easy to measure in comparison to other measures such as intelligence Like many other individual differences gender is often sensitive and controversial Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Reported Gender Differences Superior Visio-spatial skills and physical strength for males Superior mathematical and communication skills for females Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Reported Gender Differences Some research reports that males have more interest in mathematics While females have greater interest in communication - even when females have received positive discrimination towards maths Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Reasons Proposed for Gender Differences Genetic Hormonal Brain chemistry Cerebral Lateralisation Social roles Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Male Domination of Computing Industry and Education Gender ratios biased towards males Thought to be due to social roles and stereotypes Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Male Domination of Computing Industry and Education Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Male Domination of Computing Industry and Education Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Comparisons of Gender Based Performance and Attitudes In some experiments performed by the author (Morgan et al, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) we compared computer based performance of hundreds of computer users looking at how individual differences predict computer behaviour We found females made fewer mistakes than males Perhaps this was by being more accurate and careful, but we found evidence that this was also by deviating less from the written task instructions Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Comparisons of Gender Based Performance and Attitudes The traditional sex stereotypes discussed in the literature review were also found Females were less favourable in their attitudes towards computers, and more concerned about looking silly if they were seen to make a mistake Females were significantly less likely to have received encouragement to use dangerous equipment, and to explore how machines worked in their childhood Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Comparisons of Gender Based Performance and Attitudes On the negative side, and probably connected to their lack of childhood exposure to machines females were significantly more likely to have been frightened by a machine in their childhood There was some (weak) evidence that females found command line systems easier to use. It is possible that this could have been due to problems derived from the differences in visio-spatial ability of females that has often been reported in the literature Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Gender Differences in Computing Based Performance and Behaviour When asked to increase performance males also increase their error rates and task speed while females increase task speed but without significantly increasing error rates Males more prone to making more errors under stress and environmental distraction Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk Computer Games Most users Male Action, Violence and Visio-spatial Focus Sexist Roles Tomb Raider & Laura Croft Females tend to use Computers for more social purposes Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk Chat Rooms Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Gender Bias in Chat Rooms Females find communication aspects most interesting Females treated differently in on-line interactions Females attract more on-line attention & qualitatively more satisfying Some males have found adopting female names leads to more satisfying online interactions Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Gender Identities Embedded in Technology Gender roles and identities embedded into technology Computer interfaces and technology designed by males Analysis of computer dialogues show they support male interaction styles Anyone adopting female interaction styles placed in a weaker position Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Supporting Gender Differences in Modern Environment Evidence that different aspects of an interface influence males and females differently Important to make technology enhance and empower users of both sexes Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Gender and Technology Attitudes Studies have shown that there are no differences in the rates of computer anxiety between the sexes Instead it has been reported that computer experience was a much better indicator of the level of computer anxiety Most anxiety was shown by those of both sexes who had less experience of computer systems Students of both sexes who attend good computer courses develop positive attitudes towards computers and technology Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Gender Differences in Degree of Attributed Computer System Animism Males tend to use more animate descriptions (less mechanical) as they become more experienced, while females tend to show the opposite trend This may result in a significant gender difference in rates of acceptance using such 'animised' systems Some researchers have highlighted the other potential dangers which are inherent when humans start attributing animism to what are inanimate systems Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Self Rated Gender Role Models. It has been reported that both boys and girls rate computers and video games as being more appropriate for boys. This trend has been reported in children from as early as 5 years The boys rate their liking for the computer more strongly than do girls Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Self Rated Gender Role Models. Males rated their computer expertise as being higher than those of comparable experienced females In sciences where both sexes are equally represented females out perform males but still self rate their performance as lower than males Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Differential Opportunities Given to the Sexes in Education Females are under represented in the sciences overall. This is especially bad in the so called 'hard' sciences Research has shown that males receive more of the teacher's attention and more computing time than girls in computer based teaching situations Studies which have looked at entries to computer courses find a significant (3:1 ratio) sex difference favouring males this 3 to 1 difference became larger as the cost and course difficulty increased Some research has shown that while females are less likely to enroll in programming classes, those who do are successful, and make up the majority in groups who are exceptionally talented Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Gender Based Differences in Strategies for Risk Taking It has been reported that females have different strategies for risk taking, help seeking, and more importantly attributions about success or failure Other research has shown that when the computer based learning strategies of both sexes are compared males tended to adopt the more successful learning strategies spontaneously Many researchers believe these differences can be explained by the gender roles which are often enforced upon girls by their teachers and career advisors in secondary education Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Cultural Effects on Gender Roles Large body of evidence that social and cultural effects play a very large role. Researchers who survey the sex roles portrayed in the mass media find that males are portrayed as being the predominant and dominant users There are also the factors of male harassment of females who work in traditional male occupations Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk Conclusions. Our own exploratory findings appear to show some evidence of gender differences in early experiences with machines These differences appear to have existed both at home and at school, and to have continued throughout the formative years of our subject population Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk Conclusions. It does not seem unwarranted to postulate that these influences had an effect on the subjects attitudes as users and potential users of computer systems A large part of these apparent gender differences are probably due to environmental role models enforced upon children by their teachers, parents and peers? If this is indeed the case it is only by removing these restrictive role models from our society that we can truly begin to resolve the problems outlined in the introduction of this paper Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk

Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk Summary Gender is just one of many individual differences Other examples are age, intelligence & culture These differences all interact with each other Trying to address one alone is probably unrealistic Most recent research may suggest positive discrimination does not provide a long term answer Rather than trying to correct technology based gender imbalance try and correct gender imbalance present in society as a whole Saturday, 21 September 2019Saturday, 21 September 2019 Morgan, SPACS & MACS USP, Gender & IT Talk