Að opna leiðir að samskiptum, menntun og starfi fyrir konur með notkun
upplýsingatækni
CEE-WIT (Communications, Education & Employment for Women
through Information Tecnology)
Ríkisstjórn Íslands mælir fyrir um að Íslendingar verði í fararbroddi
þjóða heims við nýtingu upplýsingatækni til að bæta menntun og
samkeppnishæfi þjóðarinnar á sem flestum sviðum [1]. Og mikið átak er nú
í gangi í menntakerfinu til að stuðla að betri menntun ungs fólks á þessu
sviði. Ljóst er hins vegar að ýmsir hópar í þjóðfélaginu eiga það á
hættu að verða langt á eftir öðrum hvað varðar tölvu- og upplýsingalæsi
og draga þar með mjög úr möguleikum sínum hvað varðar störf og betri
menntun. Einnig geta landshlutar komið illa út í samanburði við önnur
svæði. Nýleg Gallup könnun (1998) sýnir að konur hafa mun minni
reynslu af notkun tölva og upplýsingatækni en karlar og landsbyggðin
kemur mjög illa út í samanburði við Reykjavík og nágrenni hvað varðar aðgang
og notkun [2].
Slíkt ójafnræði er alls ekki bundið við Ísland eingöngu. Þegar
fulltrúar Fræðslusambandsins Símennt og Iðntæknistofnunar fóru í fyrra af stað með
hugmynd að þessu verkefni fengust mjög skjótt og auðveldlega samstarfsaðilar frá Írlandi, Noregi og Slóvakíu. En í þeim löndum
standa menn einnig frammi fyrir því að efla þurfi atvinnu og menntamöguleika í
dreifbýli með tilkomu nýrrar tækni en ýmsir hópar, ekki síst konur
með takmarkaða menntun geti ekki nýtt sér sem skyldi starfs- og menntunar- og
samskiptamöguleika vegna ónógrar reynslu af tölvu- og upplýsingatækni.
Færð hafa verið rök fyrir því að tölvuvæðing leiði til aukinnar stéttskiptingar [3] og að aukin notkun tölva og tækni hafi yfirleitt haft
neikvæð áhrif á líf kvenna t.d. með því að gera störf þeirra sífellt
einhæfari og stýrðari [4]. Í því samhengi má nefna hvernig ný tækni
hefur verið notuð í fiskvinnslu á Íslandi til að fylgjast nákvæmlega með
vinnuframlagi kvenna og stýra vinnuhraða þeirra sem að mörgu leyti hefur leitt til þess að vinnuumhverfi þeirra hefur versnað auk þess að fækka
atvinnutækifærum [5]. Atvinnuleysi hefur að undanförnu verið meira meðal
kvenna en karla í landinu en stór ástæða fyrir því er eflaust að um þrefalt
til fjórfalt hærra hlutfall kvenna á við karla hefur eingöngu lokið grunnmenntun (34% á móti 12% í aldurshópnum 30-39 ára; 41% á móti 11% í
aldurshópnum 40-49 ára) [6]. Og ljóst er að lítil eða engin færni
í notkun tölva og upplýsingatækni myndi skaða möguleika kvenna á landsbyggðinni
enn meir en raunin er nú.
En hvernig er hægt að hanna námskeið um notkun tölva og upplýsingatækni
sem tekur sérstaklega mið af þörfum og áhuga kvenna? Miðað við ýmsar
fyrri rannsóknir, sem ekki verða tíundaðar hér, og reynslu ætti meðal annars að:
1. Leggja áherslu á hagnýta notkun tækninnar í stað þess að kenna UM tölvur
og tækni.
2. Miða námsefnið mjög við áhugamál kvenna/þátttakenda.
3. Tryggja að hver einstaklingur hafi aðgang að tölvu fyrir sig og fái beina reynslu í að nota hana.
4. Bjóða upp á félagsleg samskipti (beinan aðgang að vinum/öðrum konum)
í staðnámi og á Neti.
5. Tryggja mikla aðstoð, sérstaklega í upphafi en þó þannig að hlutirnir
séu ekki gerðir fyrir nemandann.
6. Hafa námskeið mjög skýrt og vel skipulagt.
7. Hafa námsefni og umhverfi aðlaðandi.
8. Undirbúningur (s.s. slökun, þekking um þau stig í notkun tölva
sem nemendur geta búist við að ganga í gegnum).
Eins og áður segir miðar þetta verkefni að því að hanna og prófa námskeið
þar sem aðferðum, eins og taldar eru upp hér að ofan, verður beitt til að
kenna konum að nýta sér tölvu- og upplýsingatækni.
Heimildir
1. Ríkisstjórn Íslands, Framtíðarsýn Ríkisstjórnar Íslands um
upplýsingasamfélagið. 1996, Reykjavík: Ríkisstjórn Íslands.
2. Gallup, Könnun á aðgengi og áhuga landsmanna á tölvum og Interneti, .1998: http://brunnur.stjr.is/interpro/for/for.nsf/pages/konnun-tolvur.
3. Yeaman, A.R.J., The mythical anxieties of computerization: A Barthesian
analysis of a technological myth, in Computers in education: social, political, and historical perspectives, R. Muffoletto and N. Nelson
Knupfer, Editors. 1993, Hampton Press: Cresskill, NJ. p. 105-128.
4. Perry, R. and L. Greber, Women and computers: An introduction. Signs, 1990. 16(1): p. 74-101.
5. Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir og Hildur Einarsdóttir, Veruleiki kvenna í Íslenskum sjávarþorpum: Líf og störf kvenna í sjávarbyggðum. Í
Morgunblaðinu. 1997.
6. Hagstofa Íslands, Konur og karlar 1997. 1997, Reykjavík: Hagstofa Íslands.
ã Solveig
Jakobsdottir, 1998
This paper was written to prepare for a Leonardo application with
the above name to create, implement and evaluate IT courses for female adult learners.
The project was accepted and started in January 1999
The home and office of the 1990s has become a showplace for advances
in computerized technology. Embedded computer chips are found in nearly every kitchen
appliance, business machine, and entertainment device. Many children's toys are
computerized. We bank through automated teller machines, buy gasoline by "paying at
the pump" with electronic funds transfers, program the VCR with a string of numbers
from a remote control device, communicate instantly via fax machines, and leave digitized
voice mail messages for those we cannot reach directly. … Not everyone, however,
rushes out to purchase or use the newest technological devices. (Rosen & Weil, 1995,
p. 55)
Access to information technology and computers and skills in using such tools are
becoming vital to be competent and technologically literate in today's workplace. To help
increase the necessary access and skills among their nations and thereby promote economic
growth, the European Commission (1996) has recently set forth an Action Plan
"Learning in the Information Society." The plan is, among other things, intended
to encourage the development of products that meet pedagogical needs both at national and
local level and to train people and help them acquire necessary skills. One group of
people that is especially in need of IT-related learning materials and aid are women who
have not completed any education or training after compulsory education and live in rural
areas. Our aim in this project is to enable such women to use computers as a tool for
communication, education, and employment and at the same time to help rural development.
To achieve those goals we will design, develop, and implement courses, tailored especially
for the needs of women with little or no computer experience.
In this paper we will describe further our rationale for focusing on the above group,
including how women's lives have often been negatively affected by the use of new
technology and the evidence for the gender gap in computer and IT access and use. We will
also discuss gender differences in reactions to computers and their use, and present
design implications for our courses, based on those differences.
It has been argued that computerization is a vehicle for social stratification (Yeaman,
1993) and that to date computers and technology have predominantly affected women's lives
negatively, forcing many women into low-paying, and increasingly automated and highly
controlled jobs (Perry & Greber, 1990). As an example, in Icelandic fishing villages,
women, who work in the fishing factories, are now being heavily monitored with the aid of
technology and the pace of their work controlled (Skaptadóttir & Einarsdóttir,
1997). In addition work opportunites for women in Icelandic fishing villages have also
become much fewer as a result of economical changes and increased reliance on technology
in the fishing industry (Skaptadóttir & Einarsdóttir, ). And in general women across
the country have been considerably harder hit by unemployment than have men (Hagstofa
Íslands, 1997). A major reason appears to be that about triple the number of women than
men (e.g. 34% vs. 12% in the age group 30-39) have only completed compulsory education
(Hagstofa Íslands, ), a group which is much more affected by unemployment than people
with more education.
Computer proficiency has joined mathematics as a limiting "filter" for
people's educational and career choices (Campbell, 1992), and a computer-related gender
gap can have very negative effects on girls' and women's education, occupations, and roles
in society (Sanders & Stone, 1986). Gender differences favoring males regarding
computers and their use have been a continuing concern among researchers and educators
during the last decade. An extensive meta-analyses (Kay, 1992), of the numerous studies of
gender differences in reactions to computers from pre-school to the college level,
revealed striking differences regarding computer use. A large majority (78%) of the 32
studies of computer use reported that males used computers more than females did, whereas
only about 12% reported the reverse, and there was also a considerable gender gap
identified, in favor of men, in relation to computer-related attitudes and achievement.
These results suggest that males and females do report different attitudes to computers,
and they do experience computers differently.
In more recent years, studies have also shown large gender differences in Internet use
among males and females, for example in Iceland. A survey (Sólveig
Jakobsdóttir, Gyða Guðjónsdóttir, Jón Jónasson, & Jón Eyfjörð, 1997) among randomly chosen
teachers and school administrators in the country showed that only 40% of the women
claimed they had used e-mail personally, and 44% the WWW, whereas the respective
percentages for men were 78% and 74%. In addition, only about 19% of the women claimed to
be frequent Internet users (daily-weekly use) in contrast to about 40% of the men. Another
study involving 354 randomly chosen 14 and 16 year old Icelandic students (Haraldsdóttir
& Guðjónsdóttir, 1997) conducted early this year, showed that gender differences in
Internet use are also found among teen-age students. A significantly higher percentage of
the boys (68%) than girls (48%) claimed they had used the Internet. It appeared that there
were gender differences, especially concerning the use of the WWW: 60% of the boys claimed
using the WWW whereas only 33% of the girls did. In contrast, differences were less
pronounced concerning on-line chat, e-mail; and on-line conferences. Another Icelandic
survey (Gallup) indicating gender differences in Internet use, was conducted last November
among 1200 people (age 16-75) (Ólafsson, 1998) and showed that men claimed to spend on
average double the amount of time per week on the Internet than did women (6.8 hours vs.
3.2 hours). The same survey showed that people in rural areas and villages spent only
about half the amount of time on the Internet than people in the capital area (or 5.8
hours vs. 3.3 hours). One conclusion from the survey was that the person least likely to
be using the Internet and other information technology was an older woman with low wages,
little education, and living in a rural area. It is interesting to note, however, that
during the last five years many students (mainly women and many with only highschool
diplomas), living in rural areas and villages in Iceland have completed a B.Ed., or M.Ed.,
degree, or teacher's license) with the aid of the Internet and on-line communication at
the Icelandic College of Education. Many of these women considered the technology aspect
of their studies (using computers and the Internet for communication and information
access and solving technology-related problems) an important and empowering part of the
curriculum (Jónasson, 1997). The same was true for a group of women completing a distance
education program at a U.S. Midwestern women’s college who had overcome computer
anxiety and cherished and used in their work the technology experience they had gained
through the program (Jakobsdóttir, 1996b).
But how are courses best designed to help women to become confident computer users.
There are several features that can be suggested based on previous research findings and
experience. These include, e.g.:
- Emphasis on practical use and benefits of technology instead of a focus on the
technology itself,
- Materials of interest to women.
- Lots of individual computer access and work and hands-on experience,
- Social elements/communication (access to friends/other women on- and off-line), some
pair/group work,
- One-on-one help,
- High course structure,
- User-friendly environment/materials
- Various psychological preparations (e.g. relaxations techniques and knowledge of
expected stages that technology users often go through – from novice to experienced
and confident).
Several studies have shown gender differences in preferences for computers as toys
versus tools, with males tending to regard computers as a toy to play games on or to play
with but females regarding it more as a tool to accomplish specific things (Busch, 1995;
Collis & Williams, 1987; Eccles, Wigfield, Harold, & Blumenfeld, 1993;
Giacquinta,
Bauer, & Levin, 1993; Jakobsdóttir, 1996a; Nolan, McKinnon, & Soler, 1992).
Therefore, methods used to increase female interests for computers have included stressing
their usefulness and making the benfits of their use clear (Sanders & Stone, 1986;
Volman, 1995). One idea would also be to teach women to become computer/media lab
assistants (on a voluntary basis) in the local schools and spark their interests in
computer use through the(ir) children’s computer use.
Another related feature is to use/design learning materials catering to women’s
interests and avoid giving a masculine image to the subject of computer literacy. There is
a strong association of computers with men and masculine interests, e.g. through images in
magazines, newspapers, computer graphics, and cover art.) (Brownell, 1993;
Provenzo, 1991;
Ware & Stuck, 1985), and therefore the association of computers to women and feminine
interests needs to be strengthened. Two studies among children and adolescence showed that
girls had much more interests than the boys in graphics including, e.g., female
characters, peaceful, friendly scenes; and the girls appeared to have a high interest in
color and detail (Jakobsdóttir, Krey, & Sales, 1994; Rogers, 1995). In contrast, the
boys appeared to e.g. prefer elements of danger and suspense in their graphics, vehicles,
and figure (male characters) in action. Similar differences may also be found among women
and men. One researcher also emphasized including social aspects of computer use in
courses designed to increase female interest in computers (Volman, 1995). However, one
should avoid assuming that all women have stereotypically, feminine interests, and it may
be important to find out interests of our future students before designing the course
materials. Such a survey could help select WWW materials used in our courses. So far men
have created the majority of web resources but women appear to be claiming more space for
themselves than before as indicated by a growing number of websites such as FEMINA (at
http://www.femina.com), Cybergrrl Web station (http://www.cybergrrl.com, and Geekgirl (http://www.geekgirl.com.au/).
Spender (1995) suggested that in addition to lack of other women on the net, and lack
of materials of interest to women s barriers to women's online participation, economics
(less money than men have to pay for access and equipment) played a considerable part.
Therefore, it may be especially important to guarantee computer access for women. Also,
because many women appear to lack assertiveness or will to compete for access, so when
paired with a male or another more experienced/assertive female, they tend to sit back and
let the other person do all the work/get all the experience (Jakobsdóttir, 1996a).
In spite of the above recommendation, women and girls have been found to enjoy social
uses of computers, e.g. to have friends sit and work close by for mutual help and sharing
accomplishments (Jakobsdóttir, 1996a). Also, the results reported above, regarding
teenage Internet use, indicated perhaps that girls tended to have more interest in on-line
communications than in using the web (Haraldsdóttir & Guðjónsdóttir, 1997).
Extensive on-line communications have also been described as vital in several distance
education courses (with the majority of students being female), with students engaging in
a lot of on-line communication with peers and the teacher being more successful and less
likely to drop out of the course (Jónasson, 1997). Pair and small group work can increase
communication and give support but as described above, students should also have lots of
individual access and work.
In addition to peer support, one-on-one help has been recommended to help people with
computerphobia (Rosen, Sears, & Weil, 1993). However, teachers should be very careful
not to take over students’ work but to act more like guides and give suggestions on
how to proceed.
Yet another feature that may aid women to become more comfortable in technology-related
courses concerns course structure. That is, female Internet-based distance education
students have indicated a strong preference for courses that are well structured with a
clear timeline for turning in assignments and divided into distinct units (Jakobsdóttir,
1996b; Jónasson, 1997).
Computer environment should also be as user-friendly as possible, and one concern comes
up regarding courses for under-educated women in non-English speaking countries. Many of
them do not know English very well, especially not the technical vocabulary associated
with computers. Therefore, we will consider selecting computer types that provide an
environment with text in the native language. In Iceland Macintosh computers do provide
such environment but not PC’s (Windows).
Experts studying computerphobia have estimated that about 30-40% of the (U.S.)
population to be severely affected by it and/or not wanting anything to do with technology
(Weil & Rosen, July/August 1995). One successful programs, designed to reduce such
negative feelings, is called the Computerphobia Reduction Program (Rosen et al., 1993).
The volunteering participants in that program were college students of various ages
(16-62) and ethnic groups but typical participants were women with lower-than-average
computer knowledge, considerable computer anxiety, and low confidence in her ability to
use computers. In addition, usually the women exhibited anxiety symptoms, including
restlessness, wandering mind, sweaty palms, and high heart beat, that is were what the
authors referred to as (overtly) anxious computerphobics. Among successful methods to
treat such clients were systematic desensitation with relaxation techniques and
thought-stopping/covert assertion but information/support was used for the people less
affected (Rosen et al., 1993). The authors used scales and surveys to measure the
participants thoughts and attitudes towards computers before and after the program (see
examples of questions on the web (Rosen, August 30, 1997)).
We will consider including most or all of the above elements in the course design in
our project, as well as other elements that may come up in further preparation. We hope to
reach our goals with quality courses, designed especially for the needs of women that are
in danger of becoming more marginalised than before as society is becoming increasingly
reliant upon technology.
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