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Girls and technology: what's next?
A February 21 New York Times article ("Sorry, Boys, This Is Our Domain") states that teenage girls far outnumber teenage boys in the creation of web content such as blogs, web sites, and original graphics. Some of these teens have created viable businesses out of their online efforts, such as Chloe Spencer of The Ultimate Neopets Cheats Site and Martina Butler of Emo Girl Talk.
In the working world of adults, however, the number of women in computer-related fields is still very small, with women holding only 27 percent of such jobs. In the next decade, will we see vast changes in the gender balance of the tech industry?
The New York Times piece holds the less-than-optimistic view that while girls outnumber boys in web content creation, those same girls are not trending toward advanced programming classes, undergraduate majors in computer science or math, and the like. It attributes this to girls being attracted to creative use of existing technology, rather than the invention of new technology.
I'm not so quick to wring my hands, though.
With each passing day, I think it makes less and less sense to draw a dividing line between what constitutes a computer-related field and what doesn't. We're very rapidly coming to a point where such lines are not only arbitrary, they're downright moot. As technology, and especially web technology, moves into more aspects of our lives, we can see it fitting comfortably into jobs that never before would've been considered "technical" -- such as teaching, healthcare, real estate, public relations, food service, and countless more. A fundamental tenet of social media is that it connects people and enhances our ability to do what we already love doing.
Maybe the real question, then, is not whether the blogging/coding/podcasting girls of today will grow up to become software engineers, but to what kinds of interesting and innovative uses they will apply their skills in their chosen field. We'll just have to wait and see, but my sans crystal ball prediction is that we won't be disappointed.
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsMarshallFeb 25th 2008 12:51PM
While an interesting point is made about the use of technology in other fields, I don't know if it really satisfies the worries of those who want more women in computer science. While 27% is better than it used to be, I am sure we are missing out on some good ideas.
There is a huge difference between people who use tools and people who create them. Setting up a blog using blogger or myspace doesn't count, in my mind at least, as creating a tool. Yes, you are adding content to the tubes, but you are still a user, not a creator, and as such, are constrained by the limits of the person who invented your application rather than by your own imagination/knowledge.
While we can't force additional women into the field, it would be great to see what they would add to it; especially since they are creating so much content, they must have some ideas about how to improve the underlying structure.
Amber RheaFeb 25th 2008 12:56PM
"Setting up a blog using blogger or myspace doesn't count, in my mind at least, as creating a tool."
Well, most of the girls referenced in this post and the NYT piece are doing a heck of a lot more than "setting up a blog using Blogger or MySpace." And while I, as a developer, understand that there *is* obviously a difference between creating new tools and making innovative use of existing ones, I also think we need to be very careful to steer clear of "developer snobbery" - something I've witnessed a lot of in the ~10 years that I've been working in this field. I think the boundaries between "users" and "creators" is being increasingly blurred, and I think that's a good thing.
Amber RheaFeb 25th 2008 12:56PM
"especially since they are creating so much content, they must have some ideas about how to improve the underlying structure."
And maybe, too, it is that kind of thing that will encourage some women to get into computer science -- out of frustration with limitations they find in existing tools.
ABTFeb 26th 2008 2:21PM
The following observation is just that, and not criticism:
This simply reinforces the idea of females being more creative, males being more math inclined. It's an interesting article, and I hope that more girls will take the math path.
There's a lot of debate about why girls aren't as strong at math (I'm generalizing, but it's a documented generalization) and I'm sure that many studies of the brain have been conducted on the topic. I won't get into that.
JesseFeb 28th 2008 2:24PM
I agree with Amber in thinking that the delineation between technical jobs and non-technical jobs is getting blurred. Much of that technical know-how that used to be a requirement of a specialized skill is becoming everyday. Go back 40 years and see who could type. It was a specialized skill those in certain professions needed. But because computer use has become such a pervasive skill doesn't mean all those who use it are in a technical profession.
The whole concept of a technical profession is changing. It is not an either/or proposition anymore. There are many degrees and I think that is what this article/post is getting at and that is where the real excitement is going to be in the future. You don't have to be a coder. Integration of content and creative use of technology is going to be HUGE and this is the area that the young people mentioned in the article are going to excel at. They don't have to necessarily be coders. Here's a hint, those integration people, they are going to be the ones that make the big money.
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