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A Hard Look: Gender-Based Technology Gap Causes Concern

September 28, 1998

BY TOM TROY

Girls take just as many computer courses at Maumee Valley Country Day School as the boys.

But when classes are over, ``the kids who are the best computer whizzes and spend more time at it are all male,'' said English teacher Jenny Barthold.

Boys having a better handle on technology than girls could be the gender equity problem of the next millennium, according to the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation.

A foundation report on gender equity says that the gap between boys and girls in math and science learning has narrowed since its landmark 1992 study, ``How Schools Shortchange Girls.''

Girls have been encouraged to take more demanding courses and teachers have been sensitized to a prior tendency to call on boys more often than girls in class.

But the latest study by the foundation, titled ``Gender Gaps - Where Schools Still Fail Our Children,'' has identified a new chasm - the ``technology gap.''

``Technology is the new `boys club' in our nation's public schools,'' said Janice Weinman, executive director of the foundation. ``While boys program and problem-solve with computers, girls use computers for word processing, the 1990s version of typing.''

The report says ``the failure to include girls in advanced-level computer science courses threatens to make women bystanders in the technological 21^st century.''

It says the turn toward an information-based economy means more jobs will require knowledge of computer technology. And boys are more likely to take computer science classes, to spend time with computers out of school, and to have a high level of self-confidence in working with computers, the report said.

But one writer on gender issues said the foundation's earlier report was all wrong, and she's skeptical about the association's latest assertions.

Dr. Judith Kleinfeld, a psychology professor at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, recently wrote an article, ``The Myth of Schools Shortchanging Girls,'' in which she concluded that the 1992 study ignored the ``fact that girls have always gotten higher grades, that girls are going to college in higher numbers than boys, that girls are graduating from college in higher numbers than boys, and that girls outstrip boys on tests of reading and writing by a wide margin. 

``The assertions and findings were one-sided,'' Dr. Kleinfeld said.

She said a claim in the earlier report that girls lack self-esteem was retracted by the foundation. But another version of the self-esteem issue has developed, this one involving girls' alleged lack of self-confidence around computers.

The latest report, she said, seems to be an effort to pressure girls to go into careers or academic courses that don't interest them simply to satisfy a feminist agenda.

``People are making choices. Outside of school, boys tend to gravitate toward playing with technology, whereas girls have shown little interest in playing with technology. They tend to use technology for work-related purposes,'' she said.

``It's a real disservice to women to channel them into fields for which they have no particular inclination, instead of allowing them to make their own choices in fields they are good at,'' Dr. Kleinfeld said.

Data from the women’s educational foundation shows that more girls than boys enrolled in Algebra I, geometry, foreign language, and music in 1994. More boys than girls were enrolled in physics; the combined core courses of biology, chemistry, and physics; computer applications, and computer science.

When it comes to taking Advanced Placement exams, for the right to enroll in Advanced Placement courses, girls dominate in English, social studies, and foreign languages. Boys dominate in calculus, science, and computer science.

Maumee Valley's Ms. Barthold said she believes the gap between the sexes is narrowing, as more females enroll in traditional male occupations such as law and medicine.

How far this revolution has to go she said she does not know.

``The perfect situation would be that any kid can freely choose and would not feel prohibited from anything,'' she said.

``If a girl chooses to be a nurse, great, as long as she knows she can be a doctor. The issue for me is choice.''

Educators locally said it's true that computer technology and other mechanical subjects are more a guy thing than a gal thing:  At the Toledo Technology Academy, which trains high school students for careers or further education in technical fields, only 15 of the 100 students are girls.

Director Kay Ladd said efforts are being made to get more girls involved. But it's not easy.

She said girls are more sociable than boys and less likely to be interested in the school's curriculum that includes welding and metal fabricating, as well as computers.

``We're leading them to build machine systems and maintain them. Often times you find young ladies are not as technically oriented,'' Mrs. Ladd said.

``We're trying to show that these careers, if you have the aptitude and the willingness, really are good careers for women,'' Mrs. Ladd said.

At the University of Toledo, the Eberly Center for Women has established a computer lab just so incoming women students can have a supportive environment to familiarize themselves with computers.

Heather Roberts, a sophomore at the university, said she has increased her ability to navigate the World Wide Web, thanks to a work-study job she got through the women's center.

She said she found no male dominance in academic subjects, but in technical subjects, boys were virtually alone.

``I went through pre-calculus and the majority in class were girls,'' she said. ``But when it got to anything like working with your hands or computers, it'd be mostly for boys.''

Dr. Harriet Adams, director of the Womens Studies Program at UT, said the technology gap is real, and if female students are uncomfortable around mechanical and electronic devices, it's because of their socialization.

``There is definitely a gender gap,'' Dr. Adams said. ``They're intimidated by computers.

``This is a long-term result of a kind of social conditioning that begins at birth, in the kinds of toys children are given,'' Dr. Adams said.

The foundation's newest report is a synthesis of more than 1,000 studies and articles on girls and K-12 education, the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation said.

Among its findings:  The number of girls enrolled in algebra I, algebra II, geometry, precalculus, trigonometry, and calculus increased from 1990 to 1994.

Boys are still more likely to take all three core science courses: biology, chemistry, and physics, especially physics.

Boys are far more likely than girls to enroll in computer science classes, while girls show up more often than boys in clerical and data-entry classes.

Among its solutions, the foundation recommends:  That algebra I and geometry be mandatory for all students. Those two courses are considered ``gatekeepers'' for college admissions and engineering and computer science.

Uses of technology should be challenging and equitable, and should encourage boys and girls to be ``power users'' of technology.

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