Feminism theorywith regard to women in IT

Group 3 Members

1. Caroline Nzui2. Edwin Mwangi3. Victoria Atema4. Angela Kamaru5. Valentine Mugabi

Feminism is not…Men should submit to women……… NO!

Nyeri Women beating up their men………NO!

What is Feminism?

Feminism is the recognition & critique of male supremacy & efforts to change it.

It focuses on limiting or eradicating gender inequality to promote women's rights, interests, and issues in society.

Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.

Feminism Goals To demonstrate the

importance of women To reveal that

historically women have been subordinate to men

To bring about gender equity.

Types of Feminism. Liberal feminism – seeks no special privileges for

women and simply demand that everyone receive equal consideration without discrimination on the basis of sex. It remove barriers that prevent equal access for women to information technology jobs. It focuses on changing legislation & employment regulations.

Social feminism - believes that technology and the social shaping of technology have often been conceptualized in terms of men.

Types of Feminism cont… Radical feminism - maintains that women’s

oppression is the first, most widespread, and deepest oppression. Reject most scientific theories because they exclude women & they are not women-centered.

Post-modern feminism - various women will have different reactions to technologies depending upon their own class, race, sexuality, country, and other factors. Gender difference is manifested differently in different societies thus, addressing the gender gap in IT employment based upon an assumed "woman's perspective" is problematic

Cyber-feminism (fuses gender & IT) Cyber-feminists saw the potential of the Internet and

computer science as technologies to level the playing field and open new avenues for job opportunities and creativity for women

Cyber-feminism - advocates women’s use of new information and communications technologies for empowerment.

Technologies is viewed as inherently liberatory and argue that their development will lead to an end to male superiority because women are uniquely suited to life in the digital age

Gender and IT Background Two dominant theoretical viewpoints are currently

reflected in the majority of literature about gender and IT. Essentialism Social construction

Essentialist theory Essentialist theory presumes the existence of relevant

inherent differences between women and men with respect to information technology.

It uses the observed differences in the participation of women and men in the IT field as evidence of this view. Thus, the causes of gender underrepresentation in IT are attributed to biology.

Inference that could be drawn from an essentialist approach to gender and IT research is that women and men should be treated differently.

Thus, policies for addressing the gender imbalance would focus on differences between women and men and the equality issue would focus on “separate but equal.

Social construction. This explanation for women’s relationship to

information technology looks to societal rather than biological forces.

There is a fundamental incompatibility between the social construction of female identity and the social construction of IT and IT work as a male domain.

According to this view, the social shaping of information technology as “men’s work” places IT careers outside the domain of women.

Social construction. Another school of thought focuses on the need to

reconstruct the world of computing to become more of a “female domain”

Spender (1995) predicted an influx of “female values” into the virtual world that would accompany increased female presence.

Issues with this school of thought. There is no universal definition of masculine or feminine behavior

While gender differences exist they are manifested differently in different societies

Social construction. Hence, addressing the gender gap in IT

employment based upon an assumed “woman’s perspective” is problematic.

This analysis suggests a gap in current theory and motivates the articulation of new theory to help us better understand the underrepresentation of women in the IT field.

Individual Differences Theory Focuses on individual differences among women as

they relate to the characteristics of IT work and the IT workplace.

This view finds the causes of gender underrepresentation in the varied individual responses to generalized societal influences. Thus, it represents the middle ground between the essentialist and social constructionist theories.

It investigates the individual variations across genders as a result of the combination of personal characteristics and environmental influences in order to understand the participation of women in the IT workforce.

Individual Differences Theory Explains women’s decisions to enter and remain in the IT

field. Personal demographic items (such as age, race, ethnicity) Nationality, socio-economic class, and parenting status) Professional items (e.g., industry, type of IT work, etc.). The individual influence construct includes personal

characteristics (e.g., educational background, personality traits, and abilities) and personal influences (e.g., mentors, role models, experiences with computing, and other significant life experiences).

Individual Differences Theory The environmental influence construct includes

cultural attitudes and values (e.g., attitudes about IT, about women in IT), geographic data (e.g.about the geographical location of one’s work) and economic and policy data (e.g., about the region.

Collectively, these constructs account for the differences among men and women in the ways they experience and respond to characteristics of IT work, the IT workplace and societal messages about women and men and IT.

Application of Feminism in Kenya Kenya Association of Women Business Owners. Kenya Women’s Finance Trust. UNDP PROGRAMS- Amkeni Wakenya- Women's

Leadership Academy Kenyan Constitution- Affirmative action

Conclusion Insufficient attention has been paid to the differences

among women rather than between women and men with respect to information technology adoption, use and work.

The development of the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT is intended to address this need by providing additional theoretical insights to help us to better understand the individual and environmental forces that account for the underrepresentation of women in IT.

It accomplishes this by focusing on women as individuals, having distinct personalities, experiencing a range of socio-cultural influences, and thus exhibiting a range of responses to the social construction of IT.

References Lovegrove, G., & Segal, B. (Eds.). (1991). Women into computing: Selected papers

1988-1990. London: Springer-Verlag. Odd girl out: an individual differences perspective on women in the IT profession

Eileen M.Trauth. Cockburn, C., & Ormrod, S. (1993).Gender and technology in the making. London:

Sage