gender and ICT

In recent years, research into gender differences has established that individual differences in how people problem-solve often cluster by gender. Research also shows that these differences have direct implications for software that aims to support users' problem-solving activities, and that much of this software is more supportive of problem-solving processes favored (statistically) more by males than by females. However, there is almost no work considering how software practitionerssuch as User Experience (UX) professionals or software developers-can find gender-inclusiveness issues like these in their software. To address this gap, we devised the GenderMag method for evaluating problem-solving software from a genderinclusiveness perspective. The method includes a set of faceted personas that bring five facets of gender difference research to life, and embeds use of the personas into a concrete process through a gender-specialized Cognitive Walkthrough. Our empirical results show that a variety of practitioners who design software-without needing any background in gender research-were able to use the GenderMag method to find gender-inclusiveness issues in problem-solving software. Our results also show that the issues the practitioners found were real and fixable. This work is the first systematic method to find gender-inclusiveness issues in software, so that practitioners can design and produce problem-solving software that is more usable by everyone.

Ferreira, E. (2017). Gender and ICT: school and gender stereotypes, in SIIE 17 Simpósio Internacional de Informática Educativa, Lisboa, Portugal, Novembro 9-11 2017, pp. 124-129.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are intertwined with almost every aspect of our daily lives, they have become central to the way we communicate, work and socialize. ICT are increasingly a structural aspect of societies, however, ICT continue to be a highly gendered area of life in all socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, and a source of significant social inequality in enduring ways. This paper reports on an ongoing research project 'Gender@ICT' which explores the interrelations of gender and technologies in an educational context in Portugal, based on focus groups and group activities (games with images related to ICT and gender) with preschool children and 9th grade students. The results bring evidence that ICT is highly related to gender stereotypes which affect boys and girls representations and practices, including their educational and career choices.

EN -If out of 100 developers only 10 are women, how many developers do we need to find a female hacker? Women are usually less often guided to a career as developer and/or computer scientist; nonetheless they have been contributing to computer science and hacker cultures, though those contributions have been little studied or made visible. Lelacoders' research has sought out women developers and hackers in order to better understand their motivations, practices, and technological perspectives. This paper questions why women are underrepresented in computer science, studies which practices and initiatives have been successful in overcoming barriers, and it also analyzes the experiences and subjectivities of twelve programmers who have chosen to use free software for their techno-political practices.

A investigação realizada na Prática de Ensino Supervisionada no âmbito do Mestrado em Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1º CEB teve como principal objetivo verificar quais as principais implicações, do ponto de vista comparativo, relativamente à utilização de um recursos digital (Internet) e a utilização de um recurso analógico (Manual) no processo de ensino/aprendizagem numa turma do 1º CEB. A metodologia implementada foi de caráter qualitativo onde se enfatizou a aplicação de uma investigação-ação através da observação participante com recolha de notas de campo (alunos; par pedagógico; Orientadora Cooperante) e entrevistas semiesteruturadas às professoras titulares do 1º CEB, para uma triangulação de dados. A posterior análise dos dados veio evidenciar que os alunos apresentaram uma grande motivação que se expressou numa participação ativa dos alunos tendo a utilização da Internet criado condições para que as aprendizagens tivessem sido mais motivadoras, interessantes e envolventes.

Supporting gender equality in the deployment of and access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) involves accepting that gender relations and ICTs within any given community are continuously being shaped by one another. There is a growing body of research on gender and ICTs in the developing world. However, little empirical evidence exists on how certain aspects of gender relations can inºuence the ways that ICTs are perceived and used, framings which can, in turn, reinforce or reshape existing gender norms and practices. This article examines the relationships that exist between gendered access to education and the ways in which mobile phones, ªxed phones, and the Internet are perceived and used in a rural and an urban Bhu-tanese community. The ªndings, organized by levels of literacy, reveal similar patterns in ICT perceptions and use across the two communities.

ICT is a key sector for developing contemporary economies and it entails an opportunity for increasing the employment rates internationally. Women were traditionally underrepresented; therefore, we need to reinforce their role in the international labor market. Before the implementation of positive actions, we need to know what is the situation and experiences of women in ICT workplaces. Through the Spanish Labor Force Survey we analyze the evolution of women. Despite the economic crisis, data shows that women have as good job prospects as men in the ICT labor market. However, women present higher levels of qualifications than men in the same category which may be interpreted as a sign of gender discrimination. Significantly, women display more critical opinions regarding the average work week.

To investigate the relationship of gender and new technologies of information and communication becomes crucial with the development of our current society. We
conducted a series of research projects aimed at the formulation, analysis and implementation of actions from with and for women and ICT. Considering the characteristics of the subjects, topics and methodologies that we apply we develop ciberfeminist research processes. In this article, we propose to continue exploring and showing our ciberfeminist research processes. We depart from our first re search project to move on to our current ones. In order to better delve into some methodological aspects that become clearer in a comparative and specific manner, we will focus, first, on LeLArt project, about the experiences and ICT trajectories
of women technoartists, and then on LelaCoders project, about the experiences and ICT trajectories of women developers of free software and / or hackers.

Sumario
Las teorías feministas de la tecnología se constituyen como la expresión teórica de una serie de diversos y controvertidos movimientos sociales y políticos, filosofías y prácticas que
tienen como común denominador la oposición y la voluntad de
superar el sexismo y el androcentrismo en la relación género y tecnología. A partir de los años 70 se desarrollan las
teorías feministas a través de los debates generados a
partir de los diversos feminismos y las distintas innovaciones tecnológicas que se suceden en el tiempo. En este artículo
se presenta una revisión de los feminismos y postfeminismos de la tecnología desde sus inicios para, sobretodo, enfatizar sus puntos de encuentro y visibilizar algunas corrientes feministas poco abordas.

Palabras clave: Género;feminismos; tecnologías; mujeres; TIC

This paper explored ICT gender gap in terms of access and usage, focusing on the less developed world, especially Sub-Saharan Africa.  The authors used relevant and mostly current and recent online literature sourced from research databases such as Google Scholar, Elsevier and Wiley Online Library.  This paper consists of four sections.  In the firstly section, the ICT gender gap phenomenon was overviewed, giving scholarly evidences of the existence of the phenomenon and the challenges it portends.  In the second section, the paper discussed some of the significant (causative) impact on ICT gender gap.  In the third section, ICT the paper discussed gender gap conceptually.  In the fourth and last section, the paper discussed patterns of ICT gender gap in the realms of two most commonly used technologies (Mobile phones and the Internet).  The paper supported some of the critical global research findings regarding genderised mobile phone and Internet usage and the concept of ICT gender gap with graphical illustrations.  Finally, the paper concluded that ICT gender gap negatively affects the socio-economic development of women, and recommended that ICTs manufacturers should include gender-balanced software and hardware right at the time of production of the technologies.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have created new economic and social opportunities all over the world. Their use, however, continues to be governed by existing power relations whereby women frequently experience relative disadvantage. Amid this inequality are individuals and organisations that are working to use ICTs to further gender equality. These are the issues addressed by the BRIDGE Cutting Edge Pack on Gender and ICTs. The first section of this article consists of extracts from the Overview Report in the Pack. It describes ways in which women have been able to use ICTs to support new forms of information exchange, organisation, and empowerment. The second section, taken from the textbox ‘Telecentres: Some Myths’, describes three assertions which frequently lead to problems in all forms of investment in development-related information exchanges with poor or less powerful groups, not only those relating to telecentres and women.

This study focuses on how Computer Science and Engineering Students (CSESs) of both genders address certain critical issues for gender differences in the field of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). This case study is based on research conducted on a sample of 99 Greek CSESs, 43 of which were women. More specifically, these students were asked to respond to a specially designed questionnaire addressing the following issues: a) essential motives in selecting CSE as a subject of study, their primary experience with computers and their family’s views regarding CSE as a career prospect, b) the relationship between gender, strengths and weaknesses in CSE and cooperation with fellow students of the opposite gender, c) the desirability of having both male and female University Professors in CSE, d) CSE courses and CSESs choice, and e) career issues. The analysis of the data shows that: a) gender inequality in CSE still exists at tertiary level, b) there is a number of students of both genders who feel interest and self confident in CSE, they believe in equality in competence of both genders in CSE and have dreams of a job with prospects as computer professionals, c) interest, self confidence in CSE are closely related to previous experience  with computers and to the encouragement by family and school to learn about computers, and d) the general atmosphere and policy in CSE Departments play an essential role for women-students to feel as equals to their male counterparts.

The emergent information or network society 1 context offers a range of opportunities for women and girls to enhance their participation across economic, socio-cultural and public-political realms of life, as well as the scope for enhancing their individual freedoms. The Post-2015 agenda therefore, both in terms of goals and related targets and indicators, has to promote and measure women's participation in the information society and their access to and effective use of the Internet and ICTs. This paper recommends that the question of gender and ICTs must be addressed in the post-2015 global development agenda, in the following manner: 1.There should be a specific goal related to the meaningful and effective use of ICTs and the Internet, that is measured through gender sensitive targets and indicators. This should take into account the quality of access, and not just availability. 2.There should be a specific goal related to gender equality and women's and girls' empowerment that takes into account access to and effective use of ICTs and the Internet as a target (with appropriate indicators) within the goal. The larger goal of women's empowerment in the contemporary information society cannot be dis-embedded from the context that ICTs are creating. 3. To facilitate a nuanced assessment, the indicators that are evolved under the above-mentioned goals must capture the individual-household, public-institutional and community-social aspects of access to, and use of, ICTs and the Internet. The paper also highlights the areas that global and national policy and programmatic frameworks need to address, in order to promote the gender equality agenda in the information society context: (a)Promotion of access and effective use of the Internet and ICTs (b)Creation of opportunity structures for women and (c)Building equitable techno-architectures. Enclosures: Annex 1 'Gender Equality and ICTs: Existing Global Frameworks' 1 'Information society' is a term that has been coined to refer to the current context where the use, distribution, consumption and manipulation of information is increasingly at the heart of our social, economic and cultural life. The rise of the knowledge economy as opposed to a Fordist, industrial economy and the increasing reduction of space and time barriers to information and communication flows with the growth of digital technologies, the rise and increasing significance of networks in all spheres of life, are some of its most visible characteristics. The term 'network society' was coined by Manuel Castells to describe this context, as an attempt to draw attention to the centrality and significance of networks.

The lack of clarity of policy and the failure to create a link between policy statement and strategies on gender is a constraint to the promotion of ICTs and gender related issues.

As a crucial development component of the revolutionary global knowledge economy, information and communication technologies have been hailed as possible tools to positively impact development efforts in both developing and developed countries (Steeves & Kwami, 2012; Sahlfeld, 2007; Chukwunonso & Aisha, 2012; Heeks, 2002). ICTs have permeated all areas of development, particularly communication, trade, and political development (O’Farrell, Norrish & Scott, 1999; Sarfo et al, 2011), and national policies in developing countries have begun considering them with greater interest. This notwithstanding, there continues to linger the challenge of divide, which is mostly in areas of access, gender and age (O’Connor, 2012; Geldof, 2011; Kwapong, 2008; Sarfo et al, 2011).

The research focuses on the effects of the heated campaign against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Bulgaria in terms of gender-based violence. Since the internet played a key role in this stormy anti-gender backlash in 2018, this research report aimed at finding out how internet technologies facilitate or prevent gender-based violence (GBV) and how dominant anti-gender rights attitudes could be reversed with the help of internet communications.

The expert team of authors and contributors consisted of: Nikoleta Daskalova (research lead), Svetla Encheva, Rada Elenkova, Milena Kadieva, Pavel Antonov and Todor Yalamov. The cover illustration of this report was made by Betina Gankova.

This work forms part of the APC 'Feminist Internet Research Network' project, supported by the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of IDRC or its Board of Governors.

The underrepresentation of women in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector is a challenge despite the existing conducive opportunity for a career in ICT. In this digital era where smartphones are almost synonymous with urban living, this paper sought to explore the social sustainability of gender diversity as a degree of involvement of women in technically developing mobile apps (apps). App development is an emergent lucrative career choice today and is predicted to remain as such for the foreseeable future. The research drew on the individual differences theory of gender in ICT by Eileen Trauth (2006; 2004) to explore the extent to which the underrepresentation has similarly permeated app development. The findings from the exploratory study of 44 app developers in South Africa suggest that gender underrepresentation and bias has spread to app development. The results nonetheless reveal a similar degree of interest among women as men to attempt a career in app develop...

IT for Change and the Centre for Advocacy and Research 2 worked with Vimochana 3 at the Daughters of Fire -India Court of Women on Dowry and Related Forms of Violence to explore how the questions of gender and violence intertwine in the 'new media' context. Indeed, the past decade has seen a metamorphosing media reality. We are witness to the changing face of 'old' media -print, radio, television -and an emergence of the new digital media space that has ushered in certain seamlessness across media forms. Indeed, this shift has rendered inadequate our categories for interpreting media through a feminist lens and the basic questions around identity, difference, representation and participation.

Recent developments of new information and communication technologies, as well as feminisms, are essential for understanding the major changes in our societies today. Feminist research of technology, traditionally, has been focused on explaining the exclusion of women from technologies. However, a move towards inclusion is already being carried out intensively. This involves investigating the experiences of women in ICT and thereby making visible their trajectories and mechanisms towards inclusion, as well as the challenges and opportunities that are generated thereby. In this article I aim to explore the processes of self-inclusion of women in ICT and specifically to show the main mechanisms that they have followed and activated to self-include in ICT. To do this I have relied on shared experiences of a purposive sample of artistic technologists and computer technologists in Barcelona, by conducting interviews and focus groups. As a result I show a series of mechanisms that women follow and activate to access, remain in, advance, and even transform ICT. These mechanisms go beyond learning and include not only doing gender but also undoing it as well as ICT. Thus, Women in ICT seek to access and progress in ICT adapting to certain circumstances but also changing them to generate and regenerate ICT in order not just to be assimilated but better to accommodate with ICT.

On 31st of August 2001, a UK women’s online portal (BEME.com) has been terminated, leaving behind three other UK competitors to fight over the niche market. BEME.com was published by IPC Media a global publisher with expertise in women’s periodicals. It was the dot.com answer to an online women’s magazine. Five years on, the other three online portals are still operational, selling the same gendered images to its female audience. As Ferguson (1983) ones observed ‘... plus ça change ... everything changes nothing changes’. (pp. 190)

Years of feminist research into women’s magazine publishing have exposed how deeply the commercial imperatives are implicated in gendered structures. On the other hand early studies of women’s Internet use focused primarily on raising awareness of a significant disparity between male users and female users online (Harcourt 1999). However, as Martinson and Schwartz (2002) point out, ‘[w]hile current numerical parity on the internet is one measure of progress, issues of gender equality are more complex than simple counts of who is logging on to the internet’ (p. 31). Building on the events of the past five years and the development of the web design industry in UK, this presentation questions the ability of designers to develop strategies to counter gender representations within the commercial women’s magazine publishing on the World Wide Web (WWW). Looking back on the case study of BEME.com what lessons can be learned about designers and their practices within the world of WWW that can illuminate the reasons why today’s women’s commercial online portals perpetuate the same gender stereotypes. Taking critical view of the design practice, this presentation offers insight into the systemic lack of interest on the part of designers working within industry that trades heavily in gender stereotypes, to problematise this process and their role within it.

In building the argument, a reference is made to the context within which the design team took on the BEME.com project. A review is taken of the role of designer and their influence on interpretation of the communicated meanings voiced by the client. Followed by a discussion of various approaches used by the team in dealing with gender norms. The data used in this presentation derives from a PhD research asserting the potential of online portal design to offer alternative ways of communicating to female users in such a way as to resist and combat the gendered status quo. The presentation draws on documents obtained from the commissioning publishing house and interviews with the design team to substantiate the analysis.

The paper culminates with a look into the future of web design for commercial women’s portals. In creating design outcomes for the WWW, today’s web designers cannot ignore the growing influence of information and communication technology as tool of cultural production. Therefore, taking into account the discussed designers’ tool-kit in dealing with gender norms a pressing issue arises as to how radical the design agenda can become whilst continuing to operate within a commercial context?


Bibliography:
Ferguson, M. (1983). Forever feminine: women's magazines and the cult of femininity. London, Heinemann.

Harcourt, W., Ed. (1999). women@internet; Creating New Cultures in Cyberspace. London, Zed Books Ltd.

Martinson, A. M., N. Schwartz, et al. (2002). "Women’s Experiences of Leisure: Implications for Design." New Media and Society 4(1): 29-49.

A investigação realizada na Prática de Ensino Supervisionada no âmbito do Mestrado em Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino do 1º CEB teve como principal objetivo verificar quais as principais implicações, do ponto de vista comparativo, relativamente à utilização de um recursos digital (Internet) e a utilização de um recurso analógico (Manual) no processo de ensino/aprendizagem numa turma do 1º CEB. A metodologia implementada foi de caráter qualitativo onde se enfatizou a aplicação de uma investigação-ação através da observação participante com recolha de notas de campo (alunos; par pedagógico; Orientadora Cooperante) e entrevistas semiesteruturadas às professoras titulares do 1º CEB, para uma triangulação de dados. A posterior análise dos dados veio evidenciar que os alunos apresentaram uma grande motivação que se expressou numa participação ativa dos alunos tendo a utilização da Internet criado condições para que as aprendizagens tivessem sido mais motivadoras, interessantes e envolventes.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are increasingly pervasive and embedded in everyday objects, significantly constituting social identities. In particular, ICT continues to be highly gendered in all socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, a source of significant social inequality in enduring ways. This paper reports on an ongoing research project entitled ‘Gender@ICT’ which explores the interrelations of gender and technologies in an educational context. Results from this research demonstrate that gendered identities of young individuals have an effect on future educational and career choices, particularly in relation to science and technology. This project aims to improve an understanding of the co-production of gender and technologies, advancing ways to promote gender equity.

ABSTRACT
A trend, where voluntary groups teach children and youth basic
computer coding skills, has spread throughout the world. Afterschool
clubs invite children to create games in visual
programming environments. The activities emphasize play, while
teaching principles of computer science. We explore this
phenomenon based on observations and interviews at a code
club in Norway, asking whether coding represents an important
skill for children and how it is distributed to include all children.
We find that coding through play activity is perceived as teaching
more than simply the technical skills of programming. Although
the fun aspect draws in children and volunteers, parents and
instructors describe the code club as being about learning to
understand and control the computer, and digital competence
required for achieving success in society. The Code Club is
described partly as being a ‘necessity for becoming a good/
efficient/empowered citizen in our digital society’, and partly as
‘children are playing with computers anyway’. These arguments
have different consequences for the gender imbalance at the
Code Club. Our findings suggest that the code clubs need an
explicit recruitment strategy targeting girls in order to become an
arena where girls can develop interest and competence in digital
technologies.

The underrepresentation of women in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector is a challenge despite the existing conducive opportunity for a career in ICT. In this digital era where smartphones are almost synonymous with urban living, this paper sought to explore the social sustainability of gender diversity as a degree of involvement of women in technically developing mobile apps (apps). App development is an emergent lucrative career choice today and is predicted to remain as such for the foreseeable future. The research drew on the individual differences theory of gender in ICT by Eileen Trauth (2006; 2004) to explore the extent to which the underrepresentation has similarly permeated app development. The findings from the exploratory study of 44 app developers in South Africa suggest that gender underrepresentation and bias has spread to app development. The results nonetheless reveal a similar degree of interest among women as men to attempt a career in app development, but more especially, that women have a preference for collaborative app development environments. For practice, the results call for more deliberate efforts and interventions to change female perceptions about app development and to stem the ever widening technological gender gap in a region where the mobile phone market has exploded. The study also lends support to the social constructionist view that women underrepresentation is ICT not primarily a result of essentialist differences between men and women but more a result of social and cultural habits.

Este Simpósio é dedicado ao tema “Género e TIC (Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação) ”, visando analisar e discutir as questões de género, no âmbito da utilização das TIC. Para desencadear a discussão, as/os participantes no Simpósio enquadrarão teoricamente o tema e apresentarão uma síntese dos resultados de diferentes estudos académicos, contribuindo, assim, para o retrato da relação entre género e utilização das TIC por crianças e jovens em Portugal. O enquadramento teórico apresentará as diferentes abordagens internacionais ao tema. Será referido o capítulo dedicado às TIC, do Guião Educação, Género e Cidadania para o 3o ciclo, e o programa de formação contínua de docentes que tem vindo a usar o referido capítulo na formação contínua de docentes, resultando na aplicação do mesmo pelos/as formandos/as em agrupamentos de escolas de todo o país. Serão também apresentados os resultados de uma investigação sobre a dimensão de género na utilização das TIC por jovens no ensino s...

Este Simpósio é dedicado ao tema " Género e TIC (Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação) " , visando analisar e discutir as questões de género, no âmbito da utilização das TIC. Para desencadear a discussão, as/os participantes no Simpósio enquadrarão teoricamente o tema e apresentarão uma síntese dos resultados de diferentes estudos académicos, contribuindo, assim, para o retrato da relação entre género e utilização das TIC por crianças e jovens em Portugal. O enquadramento teórico apresentará as diferentes abordagens internacionais ao tema. Será referido o capítulo dedicado às TIC, do Guião Educação, Género e Cidadania para o 3º ciclo, e o programa de formação contínua de docentes que tem vindo a usar o referido capítulo na formação contínua de docentes, resultando na aplicação do mesmo pelos/as formandos/as em agrupamentos de escolas de todo o país. Serão também apresentados os resultados de uma investigação sobre a dimensão de género na utilização das TIC por jovens...

ICT/technologies are increasingly pervasive and embedded in everyday things and objects, constituting a relevant aspect of social identities. Furthermore ICT use continues to be a highly gendered area of life in all socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, and a source of significant social inequality in enduring ways. Gender and ICT/technologies is an international growing field of research that explores diverse research issues, and the main objective of this paper is to characterize the Portuguese research on this topic, identifying the main areas of study and possible gaps. By analyzing institutional repositories of Higher Education in Portugal, conferences and journals on ICT and Education, this paper concludes that research on gender and ICT/technologies in Portugal is very limited and mainly on subjects related with education and occupation/jobs. To finalize the paper presents future research topics to foster knowledge on gender and ICT/technologies in Portugal.

Resumo As tecnologias da informação e comunicação (TIC) estão cada vez mais presentes e incorporadas nos objetos do quotidiano, constituindo um aspeto relevante das identidades sociais. No entanto, dados de diversas investigações continuam a revelar a existência de desigualdades de género ao nível das práticas digitais e das profissões relacionadas com as TIC. O projeto de pós-doutoramento "Gender@ICT", enquadrado no projeto "Literacia digital no contexto da educação científica: Questões de Género", tem como objetivo explorar como é que as TIC afetam e são afetadas pelas práticas de género, isto é, como é que as pessoas constroem as suas relações com as TIC e como é que o género faz a diferença nessa construção. A abordagem metodológica foi qualitativa, baseada em entrevistas individuais semiestruturadas, atividades interativas em contexto de sala de aula e grupos focais com crianças, adolescentes e docentes de TIC. O projeto teve várias fases, primeiro foram realizadas atividades com alunos/as do 9º ano de escolaridade, depois com crianças em idade pré-escolar e finalmente com docentes da disciplina de TIC. Este artigo apresenta a fase final do projeto, os grupos focais com docentes de TIC, relacionando os resultados com as fases anteriores do projeto. As/Os docentes de TIC têm uma visão privilegiada sobre as práticas digitais dos jovens e neste projeto analisamos as suas experiências de observação de raparigas e rapazes a utilizarem tecnologias. Os grupos focais realizados com as/os docentes de TIC também nos permitem identificar e explorar práticas educativas que promovem a equidade de género nas TIC. Palavras-chave: Género, TIC, Educação.

Lynch J 2009, Gender and the Study of Information Technology: Ongoing Challenges (A report from the GaIT Project), ANSN Snapshot of Research, Australian National Schools Network, 2009, No 1.

In this ANSN Snapshot from Research, Dr Lynch refers to findings from the GaIT study, to draw our attention to:
• the declining student interest in studying Information Technology (IT) subjects;
• the persistent gender gap in enrolments in IT subjects at school and university;
and
• issues related to school IT education that might contribute to the gender gap and to the more general decline in participation in this area of study.

She also outlines strategies that might be implemented to increase boys’ and girls’ interest and participation in school IT education.

Use of ICT in rural governance is an emerging phenomenon in India. In the present paper, citing various grass root realities and incidents, the author establishes a correlation between the existing gender gaps and gender discriminations in the rural society and consequent marginalization of rural women from emerging rural e-governance. In this context the author also examines the existing rural e-governance agenda of the state government and concludes that currently the gender issues are not given adequate attention and representation in it. The findings are based on a study of a rural e-governance scheme of one of the most socially and economically challenged states of India: Chhattisgarh.

With the emergence of Information and Communication technologies and third wave feminism, new opportunities for women involved in ICT have been emphasized with critical optimism. Feminists of technology have approached gender and technology from diverse conceptions and feminisms. Nowadays feminist research is moving from the concern of numbers and the digital divide, to focus on inclusion and the presence of women in ICT and analyze their experiences in technological fields. These current feminisms introduce the notions of doing and undoing gender in relation to technology, pointing to a mutually constitutive process of gender and technology that develops in a fluid and dynamic manner. Therefore, gender and ICT relationship is no longer understood in a deterministic manner or with no agency given to women, but in a way that gender and technology become coproduced in a mutable, fluid, dynamic, interactive and performative process where gender is not only being done and undone, but also the technologies and their relationship with gender. Thus, it is considered that both gender and technology may not be fixed concepts, but dynamic and changing over time and situations, making it possible to recognize and open new possibilities for change and transformation through feminist politics. In this sense, we consider that gender is being done when the tendency is to emphasize femininity in contrast to the hegemonic masculinity, resulting in difference. Otherwise, we understand that gender is being undone in those situations that a break with binarisms and / or heteronormativity is produced, producing a different doing gender to that expected from a woman and / or challenging the dual gender binary, even when producing certain degendering. Similarly, we understand that ICT are being done when the discourses and practices on the design and use of ICT are associated with artifacts, occupations and sectors traditionally considered technological. Conversely ICT are being undone, for example, when they become hybridized with other ICT issues and areas less traditionally associated with technology or, somehow, emphasize communication and information. Based on these theoretical positions we explore how gender is being done and undone and, in turn, how ICT is being done and undone in the processes of self-inclusion of women in ICT. We consider the process of self-inclusion to be dynamic and fluid, occurring over time and going beyond access. This is to say that self-inclusion implies accessing ICT, but also remaining, advancing, recognizing it, and being recognized, as well as transforming and contributing to ICT. We depart from the experiences of a sample of women artists and computer technologists based in Barcelona. In order to select them we considered that both the concept of women as well as ICT could be fluid and mutable and therefore could be troubled. Understanding women and ICT in an inclusive and critical sense, we questioned the understanding of the categories imposed from outside, to understand them from the inside, in a way open to alternative interpretations of the same participants. Therefore, the sample included transgender experiences, and also other sexual orientations beyond being heterosexual. Similarly, we troubled ICT, understanding it beyond the studies and ICT occupations traditionally considered ICT and turned our attention to other areas than could capture their hybrid and transversal condition, such as technoart, where women seem to be better represented, at least in numbers. A qualitative analysis was carried out in a way that their experiences were collected through interviews and focus groups. Firstly, 22 episodic interviews, that combined the narrative and the semi-structured interview, were conducted in order to study their ICT trajectories in relation to gender. Secondly, 2 mini focus groups were performed in order to delve into key issues in a collective way. In total then, 28 women participated in our research; half of them were artistic technologists and the other half computer technologists. Those interviews and focus groups were transcribed and analyzed using Atlas.ti software in a bottom up process. In doing so we intended to answer the main question: how, and to what extent, the research participants were doing and undoing gender and ICT in their processes of self-inclusion in ICT? Given the ICT context of the participants, they all shared the experience of being in a qualitatively masculinised environment (referring to culture, understood as masculine norms and values). In the case of computer technologists, quantitatively speaking as well, they all commented on the fact that they were a minority in their courses or working environments. This implies that environment and technology practices are gendered and therefore those women will often be doing and undoing gender in a masculinised context and under a heteronormative gender regime. In this sense the existence of a certain number…

Supporting gender equality in the deployment of and access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) involves accepting that gender relations and ICTs within any given community are continuously being shaped by one another. There is a growing body of research on gender and ICTs in the developing world. However, little empirical evidence exists on how certain aspects of gender relations can inouence the ways that ICTs are perceived and used, framings which can, in turn, reinforce or reshape existing gender norms and practices. This article examines the relationships that exist between gendered access to education and the ways in which mobile phones, axed phones, and the Internet are perceived and used in a rural and an urban Bhutanese community. The andings, organized by levels of literacy, reveal similar patterns in ICT perceptions and use across the two communities.

Este Simpósio é dedicado ao tema “Género e TIC (Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação) ”, visando analisar e discutir as questões de género, no âmbito da utilização das TIC. Para desencadear a discussão, as/os participantes no Simpósio enquadrarão teoricamente o tema e apresentarão uma síntese dos resultados de diferentes estudos académicos, contribuindo, assim, para o retrato da relação entre género e utilização das TIC por crianças e jovens em Portugal. O enquadramento teórico apresentará as diferentes abordagens internacionais ao tema. Será referido o capítulo dedicado às TIC, do Guião Educação, Género e Cidadania para o 3o ciclo, e o programa de formação contínua de docentes que tem vindo a usar o referido capítulo na formação contínua de docentes, resultando na aplicação do mesmo pelos/as formandos/as em agrupamentos de escolas de todo o país. Serão também apresentados os resultados de uma investigação sobre a dimensão de género na utilização das TIC por jovens no ensino s...

The digitalization of education systems is presented as a possible way to match the concerns of a knowledge based economy with those of an inclusive information society. To meet this double challenge, education systems are asked to shift from a ‘traditional school’ to an ‘Education 2.0’ model, introducing innovative pedagogies through the use of ICT devices characterized by interactivity and multimediality. The article investigates over the presence and breadth of this shift within secondary schools of the region Sardinia, Italy, since the introduction of Interactive Whiteboards (IWB), to focus next on the gender dimension of change. Empirical evidence drawn from an evaluative research adopting a mixed method approach is presented and analysed: first, an idealtype of classroom organization after IWB introduction is offered, then the main gender dynamics emerging in reorganized classrooms are considered, focussing on interaction among its main actors’, namely teachers and students. C...

Use of ICT in rural governance is an emerging phenomenon in India. In the present paper, citing various grass root realities and incidents, the author establishes a correlation between the existing gender gaps and gender discriminations in the rural society and consequent ...

Use of ICT in rural governance is an emerging phenomenon in India. In the present paper, citing various grass root realities and incidents, the author establishes a correlation between the existing gender gaps and gender discriminations in the rural society and consequent marginalization of rural women from emerging rural e-governance. In this context the author also examines the existing rural e-governance agenda of the state government and concludes that currently the gender issues are not given adequate attention and representation in it. The findings are based on a study of a rural e-governance scheme of one of the most socially and economically challenged states of India: Chhattisgarh.