This paper explores certain possible reasons behind the uneasy relationship between women and technology. The cultural identification of technology with masculinity has been well documented through previous research. However, we feel it is useful to revisit this complex relationship through the scope of a more subtle distinction between…

In the "Digital Divide" research, adult women have generally been found to be the weakest group when compared with others. There is thus a need to provide this particular group with computer literacy training, and to give them opportunities to learn about using computers. In such training, women not only need to learn computer skills,…

This study investigates the attitudes of a group of low-status women towards computers through a deliberately designed computer training programme. Four aspects of the women's attitudes were examined, including computer anxiety, confidence, liking and usefulness. Data sources consist of pre- and post-surveys and interviews with the participants.…

This paper reports on a qualitative study that examined how pair programming shapes the experience of secondary school girls taking IT as a subject, with respect to their enjoyment of programming and the subject itself. The study involved six Grade 11 girls who were doing solo programming in Grade 10 and pair programming in their following Grade.…

Working with the premise that information and communications technology (ICT) has the capacity to make or unmake so far as women's empowerment is concerned, this article looks at the ICT situation among female distance learners in both endowed and under-served parts of Ghana, to check the user differentials among the two contrasting groups through…

A review of the international research literature pertaining to gender and information technology (IT) schooling reveals changing ideas about what constitutes a gender problem. Much of the literature is concerned with gender differences in computer uses and interests and perceived disadvantages accruing to females as a result of these differences.…

This paper reports on an exploratory investigation of the perceptions of information and communication technology (ICT) as a field of study and work in German secondary schools. A total of 160 students from five secondary schools in Lower Saxony participated in the study in February 2007, and four teachers of the students were interviewed. The…

This study examines children's social responses to gender cues in synthesized speech in a computer-based instruction setting. Eighty 5th-grade elementary school children were randomly assigned to one of the conditions in a full-factorial 2 (participant gender) x 2 (voice gender) x 2 (content gender) experiment. Results show that children apply…