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Overview of The Issue
The Council began its investigation of gender equity in science, math, and technology by reviewing recent reports conducted by the American Association
of University Women (AAUW), and the Commission on the Advancement of
Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering, and Technology Development
(CAWMSET). From these reports the Council found that women have yet to
achieve parity in either the educational or the labor sectors of science, math, and
technology. Given the heightened focus on this issue within both our state and
the nation, the Council decided to conduct a full investigation of gender equity in
science, math, and technology occupations. The Council began by reviewing the
work of recent Commissions to help frame the issue of gender equity and
technology.

The Council first turned to a 1998 report by the AAUW, Gender Gaps:
Where Our Schools Still Fail Our Children, that illustrates alarming disparities
between boys’ and girls’ educational attainment in technology, technology related
fields, engineering and science. Specifically, girls are less likely to take high
level computing classes in high school, and in 1998 comprised only 11 percent of
those taking Advanced Placement computer science exams. Girls outnumbered
boys only in their enrollment in word processing classes, what the AAUW termed
the 1990's version of typing classes. At the college level, while women earned
about 25 percent of computer/information science bachelor's degrees, they
achieved only 11 percent of the doctorates.

However, what is perhaps even more important is that these educational
inequities are felt within our workplaces. Because girls and women do not
receive educational training in technology areas, they continue to be excluded
from science and technology jobs---the professions and occupations that are
growing. This is not only a problem from an equity standpoint, it also limits our
ability to capitalize on the talents needed for the present and future workforce.
These trends in the workplace and educational institutions suggest that in order
to increase gender parity in technical occupations, one must examine the
relationship of gender and technology from kindergarten classrooms through
corporate boardrooms. To frame the problem the Council turned to two main
research reports: Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age,
conducted by the AAUW, and Land of Plenty: Diversity as America's Competitive
Edge in Science, Engineering and Technology, conducted by CAWMSET. Each
report contributed to a framework that the Council used to begin to define the
issue for New Jersey.

Tech-Savvy took as its mission an analysis of girls' educational
preparedness for our technologically driven labor market. The AAUW defines
being technologically literate as possessing a set of critical skills, concepts, and
problem-solving abilities to apply information technology in sophisticated and
innovative ways. This allows for problem solving across disciplines and subject
areas, and an understanding of the basic principles of computer programming
and science. Using this definition, they found that girls usually are not in
educational programs where they can acquire these skills. Further, when they
are in technology classes they tend to be concentrated in computer “tools”
courses--such as learning to use databases, page layout programs, online
publishing, and productivity software. As a result many girls do not qualify for the
ranks of the technologically literate.

However, exclusion from computer literacy courses is not the only
challenge girls face in technology. Tech-Savvy also reports that girls face
additional barriers to technology such as masculine cultural stereotypes of the
isolated male computer geek; computer games that are geared toward boys; and
teaching methods that discourage interest in applied computer work. Perhaps
one of the most important findings is the link between educational socialization
and future occupational choices. Tech-Savvy researchers found that often when
"gender equity" in computer technology appears in school curriculums many
times it translates in practice into programs in which girls master the computer
"tools" of PowerPoint, email, Internet Search Engines, word processing, and
databases. This has not worked in girls' favor. These skills are demanded in
many of the low paying, traditionally female jobs in the service, clerical, and retail
sectors. In contrast, women are significantly underrepresented in information
technology jobs, systems analyst, software design positions-- all of which
demand technological literacy, not simply tool mastery. This continues to
highlight the link between education and occupational choice.

The Council also studied the work of CAWMSET to further explicate the
experiences of women in science, math, and technology jobs. This federal
commission focused on initiatives to increase the numbers of women, minorities,
and the disabled in these fields. They focused on education (at the elementary,
high school, and college level), professional life, public image of computing, and
national accountability. In addition to focusing on many of the educational equity
issues discussed in Tech-Savvy, CAWMSET found gender inequity also exists in
technological and science fields in such areas as: salary discrepancies between
men and women; the funneling of women into low-paying, low-status industries,
corporate jobs and academic jobs; and the exclusion of women from informal
networks and mentoring opportunities. CAWMSET recommended a national
awareness and accountability to achieve gender parity in science, engineering,
and technology.

To better summarize the large amount of information collected from
secondary research sources, this report will address gender equity within the
educational system and the workforce, building on the work of AAUW and
CAWMSET. The first section addresses the under-representation of girls and
women in the science, math, and technology educational pipeline. This section
is divided into two further parts: one in which we address gender inequity at the
pre-college level, and a second part in which we address gender inequity at the
college level. Each part is subdivided into several subsections that focus on
issues of gender stereotyping and biases in the classroom. The final section
addresses gender inequity in science, engineering, and technology workplaces.

THMMY.gr

Χαλαρή συζήτηση - κουβεντούλα => Φιλόσοφοι Μηχανικοί - Μηχανικοί Φιλόσοφοι => Topic started by: aika on December 07, 2007, 02:27:42 am