Reconstructions of Gender and Information Technology

This open access book explores what makes women decide to pursue a career in male-dominated fields such as information technology (IT). It reveals how women experience gendered stereotypes but also how they bypass, negotiate, and challenge such stereotypes, reconstructing gender-technology relations in the process. Using the example of Norway to illuminate this challenge in Western countries, the book includes a discussion of the gender equality paradox, where gender equality exists in parallel with gender segregation in fields such as IT. The discussion illustrates how the norm of gender equality in some cases hinders rather than promotes efforts to increase women's participation in technology-related roles.

Emphasises the positive factors that have led women to IT in recent years, instead of focusing on barriers Analyses women's chronological pathways from childhood Brings in-depth qualitative and quantitative data material collected over several years This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Autorentext

Hilde G. Corneliussen is Research Professor of Technology and Society at Western Norway Research Institute. Her research and scientific publications are mainly on how to make technology more inclusive for groups at risk of being excluded from the digital transformation, including Gender-Technology Relations: Exploring Stability and Change.

Inhalt

1. Women Fighting Gender Stereotypes in a Gender Egalitarian Culture.- 2. The Unsolved Mystery of the Gender Imbalance in IT.- 3. Women's Chronological Pathways to IT Education.- 4. Girl Power: Reconfiguring the Gendered Space of IT.- 5. Girls Don't Walk Alone: Supporters' Investment in Welcoming Girls and Women into Fields of IT.- 6. Gender Patterns, Equality Paradoxes, and Lessons for an Inclusive Digital Future.