Hey, where are the girls in the computer room above?

In a comment from Lachlan towards my last post, he stated that some measures had to be consciously taken to make girls feel comfortable enough to use the computer rooms in schools.

The question here is why do girls feel uncomfortable in computer rooms? Are they intimadated by the boys the presence? Are boys going out of their way to make girls feel unwelcome? Is the nature of the industry so geared towards boys to make girls feel unwanted?

What about my days at Uni some 20 years ago, back when a programs existed as a decks of punch cards(good heavens!), was the computer culture male dominated even then? I remember many of my girl friends dropping out of the IT faculty after the first semester. Not their thing? Or was it because they felt unwelcomed? Perhaps the culture has slowly progressed to become more and more male through the decades?

Good Morning Sunshine!

Heute ist der Internationale Tag der
superschönen und verdammt
intelligenten Frauen.
Sende dieses Mail an alle Frauen, die
Deiner Meinung nach diesen Titel
verdienen.
Schicke sie bitte NICHT an mich
zurück, da ich sie ja schon von einer
superschönen verdammt
intelligenten Frau bekommen habe.
Und vergiss nicht unsere
Lebensdevise: “Das Leben sollte
keine Reise sein, mit dem Ziel,
attraktiv und mit einem gut
erhaltenen Körper an unserem Grab
anzukommen. Wir sollten lieber
seitlich hineinrutschen, Schokolade
in einer Hand, Martini in der
anderen, unser Körper total
verbraucht und schreiend “Wow, was
für eine Fahrt!”
In diesem Sinne wünsche ich Dir
einen klasse Tag!
*g* Also Mädels! lasst die Sau raus
und genießt jeden neuen Tag, den
wir erleben dürfen!!! An dieser Stelle
noch einmal einen guten morgen!!!!
aja, und vergesst nicht:
wenn einer lacht, lach mit!
wenn einer singt, sing mit!
wenn einer trinkt, trink mit!
wenn einer arbeitet, dann lass ihn
spinnen!!!

DID ANYONE GET THAT? CAN SOMEONE TRANSLATE? ITS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD!!

Dr Neil Anderson a Senior Lecturer at James Cook University, Australia wrote :

“..there is nothing optional about involvement in IT – it is an imperative in VET (Vocational Education and Training). Despite the growing importance of IT, women continue to be under-represented in this critical area in both education and employment..”

He goes on to state that :

“Computer texts and materials in Australian schools were found to contain a heavy bias towards males who were often depicted in positions of power in relation to computing as opposed to passive roles assigned to girls and women..”

Many studies have found that girls often undervalue their own abilities in computer science. A common misconception has been males are inherrently better then females in computer science.

Dr Anderson wrote :

“A meta-analysis of over 100 studies by Burgo (1993) indicated that male and female students had comparable results on post-instructional tests. Kirkpatrick and Cuban (1998) found that boys and girls had very similar achievement scores when they had experienced a similar amount of time and types of computer experiences. Durnell, Glissov and Siann (1995) found in their Scottish study that girls and women, despite some initial hesitation, became very pragmatic and confident users of computers with experience. “

Also :

“.. Another important factor in schools has been the physical dominance of males students who often see computers and technology as an exclusive male domain and use various means of harassment to effectively exclude girls from computer use, especially during times where teacher supervision is less. This is evident in computer use out of regular class lessons such as lunch time library computer use where girls are often made to feel unwelcome or physically outmanoeuvred when trying to gain computer access.”