Gender + Technology

Professor Marija Dalbello

http://scils.rutgers.edu/~dalbello/g+t/ITI340f2002home.html

Course Objectives

At the end of the course, the students should be able to:

•Understand feminist critiques of science/technology and comprehend alternative strategies for thinking about technology as it affects women's lives.

•Develop a critical analysis of a public policy area in technology that has consequences for women.

•Recognize the importance and processes of innovation as they impact women in technology-based industries.

•Engage in informal study groups and team projects to foster opportunities for both male and female students to interact more productively.

•Identify the barriers to the recruitment and retention of women. Develop recommendations regarding strategies to overcome barriers in the workplace.

Organization of the Course

Module I - Gender as Cultural and Natural Construct

Module II - Women, Information Technology, Education, and Employment

Module III - Social context and policy: Global and international perspectives of women's work

Organization of the Course

Module I - Gender as Cultural and Natural Construct

1. Gender and Identity

2. Gender preferences in the use of technology

3. Cybertechnologies

4. Technocriticism

Organization of the Course

Module II - Women, Information Technology, Education, and Employment

1. Female achievements in Technoscience

2. History of Women in Technology

3. Information technology in the workplace

4. Technology in the domestic sphere

Organization of the Course

Module III - Social context and policy: Global and international perspectives of women's work

1. Gendered public policies

2. The Digital Divide3. The Technologies of Production: Women's Work in the First

and the Third World

4. Connectivity and Community

5. Ecology movements

•Do you believe that girls are fundamentally different than boys?

•Traditional representation of femininity in our culture implies that emotion and intuition are most often associated with women. Technology is perceived as logical and mechanistic that is fundamentally opposed to this representation of femininity.

•Sherry Turkle, who’s an MIT professor, says that the computer is a personal and cultural symbol of what a woman is not. Do you agree?

•How could technology change if girls start using computers more often?

•Give reasons for and against designing software along the lines of traditional femininity.