By Keith Hobin

COMPUTER HABITS AND

SKILLS
BY GENDER
OVER TIME
What Is This All About?
(Thesis)
 This research project focuses around
how gender plays a role in how
people use computers.
 It is a common belief by most people
that women are not interested by, or
can use at a advanced level,
computers and other technology. This
is false.
What Is This All About?
(Thesis) (Cont.)
 Both genders have had a equal
importance in computing history, most
people just don’t know it.
 Even with women having a important place in
computing history, they still have had a hard
time getting in to the currently male
dominated industry. (Belkin)
 Females are just as able to use a
computer as males
 Females are just as interested in
computers and other technology as
males
A Brief History
The Computer from Past to Present
And How Women Were Involved
In the Beginning…

 A computer was a person [more accurately

a job title]. (Skinner) (Ceruzzi 1)
 They were responsible for doing
computations; basically big math problems
 Was first used for astronomical calculations
(Skinner) (Wikipedia Contributors, “Human
Computer”)
 Used frequently during World Wars I & II,
and because of the draft, were mostly
women. (Wikipedia Contributors, “Human
Computer”)
 They were eventually replaced, but not by
men, by electronic computers like the
ENIAC [Electronic Numerical Integrator And
The ENIAC
 Stands for Electronic Numerical
Integrator And Computer
 Was the “world's first electronic digital
computer” (Weilk)
 “[D]eveloped by [an] Army Ordnance to
compute World War II ballistic firing
tables” (Weilk)
 “Built at the University of Pennsylvania's
Moore School of Electrical Engineering”
(Weilk)
 Used “19,000 vacuum tubes, 1,500
relays, and hundreds of thousands of
resistors, capacitors, and inductors” to
process calculations (Weilk)
 Fun Fact: “As of 2004, a chip of silicon measuring 0.02 inches
 Women and ENIAC
 Was mainly
programmed by 6
women: (Brown)
 Kay Mauchley Antonelli
 Jean Bartik
 Betty Holberton
 Marlyn Meltzer
 Frances Spence
 Ruth Teitelbaum

 The Women were inducted Source: http://www.math.ntnu.no/[…]/eniac4.jpg

into the WITI (Women In

Technology International)
hall of fame for their work
(Brown)
 Programming the ENIAC

 Programming was done

by “manipulating its
switches and cables”
(Wikipedia Contributors,
ENIAC)
 Like a switchboard
 A switchboard operator was
usually a female job
 Switchboard operators
would be good as
programmers for the ENIAC
 The programmers
followed a set of Source: “Core Memory” 22-
instructions on how to 23

program the ENIAC,

and worked in teams of
Other Notable Women in Computing History
Erna Schneider Hoover

 Erna Schneider Hoover invented

the technology used to switch
telephone traffic. Principals of this
are still used today. She was
awarded one of the first software
patents ever (MIT School of
Engineering)
 Other Notable Women in Computing History
Grace Murray Hopper
 Grace Murray Hopper
developed the first complier
[the A-O] for a computer
programming language.
(“Grace Murray Hopper”)
 Enlisted and served in the
Naval Reserve, but continued
to be a major part of the
academic math world at the
same time
 Programmed the Harvard Mark
I and II during WWII (“Hopper
biography”)
 She later design COBOL, one of
the first computer languages
(“Grace Murray Hopper”)
 “When Hopper retired from the
Navy in August 1986, at 80 Source: Britannica Online Encyclopedia

years of age, she was the

oldest active duty officer in the
United States.” (“Hopper
 The Transistor

 Is a “three terminal, solid state

electronic
device” (nobelprize.org, “ The Source:
nobelprize.or
Transistor – History”) g/[…]
transistor.gif

 You “can control electric current or

voltage between two of the terminals
by applying an electric current or
voltage to the third terminal.”
(nobelprize.org, “ The Transistor –
History”)
 Replaced vacuum tubes for
electronics
 Still used today in integrated circuits
The Integrated Circuit
Source:
nobelprize.org/
 Took millions of transistors and […]/chip.jpg

packed them into a small space

(nobelprize.org, “The History of
the Integrated Circuit”)
 Invented by Jack Kilby at Texas
Instruments in 1958. (IEEE)
 Used in almost all electronics
 Commonly called a “CPU” or
“Microprocessor” in a personal
computer
(Electronic) Computers Today
What, Why, and How We Use Them
The New Definition of a Computer:
 When someone says “Computer”
today, they most often are referring
to the personal computer
 For most people, ““Computing” is the
least important thing computers do.”
(Ceruzzi 1)
 According to Merriam-Webster, a
Personal Computer is “a general-
purpose computer equipped with a
microprocessor and designed to run
especially commercial software (as a
word processor or Internet browser)
for an individual user”
Scholarly
ScholarlyStudies
Studies
What Research Says About How We
Use Computers
Are We Really That Different?

 Various studies have been preformed,

usually judging one of two things
 The difference between genders and what
they want from technology
 The differences between genders in how
comfortable they feel using technology
 The recent studies have found that:
 There is a difference in what the respective
genders what from computers
 There is no difference in how comfortable the
respective genders feel about computers
Are We Really That Different?
(Cont.)
 I have researched several studies
disusing how men and women use
computers and technology in general.

 These studies are:

 “Technology Perceptions by Gender” By
Cornelia Brunner and Dorothy Bennett
 “Nebraska High School Students’ Computer
Skills and Attitudes” By Lynne E. Houtz and
Uma G. Gupta
 “Families in a High-Tech Age: Technology
Usage Patterns, Work and Family Correlates,
and Gender” By Noelle Chesley
 My own [non-scholarly] informal survey
Technology Perceptions by
Gender
 Published in February 1998
 Found “to nobody’s surprise” that :
 “girls are more ambivalent about
technology than boys” (56)
 “boys are more excited about their
experiences with technology […] [girls]
tend to get bored when they encounter
bad technology experiences.” (56)
 Boys like Video Games, Girls like plain
“video (i.e., stories)” (56)
Technology Perceptions by
Gender (Cont.)
 “Girls are less likely than boys to fix a broken
piece of technology” (56)
 When asked about a “technology nut”, both
genders identified them as a male (56)
 Also asked adults about their
expectations and feelings of technology
(56); Found that:
 Women want small, portable gadgets that
allow them to communicate; Men want to be
able to “transcend the limitations of space
and time” (56-57)
 An example of this would be to have "The
ability to send and receive information instantly
from vast resource archives and to publish
one's own ideas to the world at large“ (58)
Technology Perceptions by
Gender (Cont.)
 The internet is appealing to both
gender ideals (57-58)
 It allows for the female ideal to be able to
“communicate with others and share ideas
[…]” (58)
 It allows for the male ideal to be able to
“send and receive information instantly […]
and publish one’s own ideas […]” (58)
Technology Perceptions by
Gender (Cont.)
 Overall, this study helps show that the
two genders do want different things
from technology, but technology is
starting to merge and appeal to both
genders.
 I was a bit surprised that men wanted
to “transcend the limitations of space
and time”.
 I wasn’t sure what this really meant, and
sort of sounded like men wanted to have
a time machine
 What this really meant was that men want
NE HS Students’ Computer Skills and
Attitudes
 Published Spring 2001
 Tried to “better understand the current
usage, attitudes, and technology career
interests of high school students in the
state of Nebraska” (317)
 Investigated probable differences
between males and females, using a
“Self-Report Survey Questionnaire” with
both closed and open response
questions (317)
 More females then males completed the
survey (318)
NE HS Students’ Computer Skills and
Attitudes (Cont.)
 Found that:
 Both males and females:
 Are overall, most comfortable with Windows [as
opposed to the Mac OS] (319)
Except at all-girl schools, where the Mac OS was
the most comfortable (319)
Also, at all-boy schools, the students were most
comfortable with both platforms (319)
 Most frequently use the computer at school [as
opposed to home] (319 - 320)
 Use the Computer most frequently for (320
-321):
Word Processing
Internet
Games
NE HS Students’ Computer Skills and
Attitudes (Cont.)
 Males said that they were interested in having
a career in information technology, more often
than females (321)
 Females in co-ed school were significantly more
interested in IT careers than their counterparts
in same sex schools (321)
“There was a similar trend with the males in [co-ed]
and same-sex schools, but the difference was not
significant (322)
 “Males […] rated themselves significantly
higher than females in their ability to acquire
technology skills” (322)
 The trend where males and females in co-ed
schools were more confident than their
NE HS Students’ Computer
Skills and Attitudes (Cont.)
 Overall, this study continues to show
that Males are a bit more comfortable
with computers and other technology,
but females are not far behind
 I was surprised about the effect that
same-sex schools had on student’s
perceptions of technology
 It would be interesting to study why girls
in same-sex schools are less interested in
technology than girls in co-ed schools
 NE HS Students’ Computer Skills
and Attitudes (Cont.)
 Is it because the
instructors avoid using
technology because they
think the girls are not
interested in it?
 Then it becomes a
continuous cycle:

 It would also be
interested to conduct
this survey in places
where technology is
assumed to be part
of daily life, like the
Silicon Valley area.
Families in a High-Tech Age

 Published May 2006

 Focuses around:
 How families use technology
 How family members influence one
another's’ technology use
 How gender effects technology use
 Splits technology into two categories
 Communications
 Computer-based
 Goes into great detail on how men and
women affect each other.
Original
OriginalResearch
Research
How Do You Use Technology?
Original Research
Overview
 I conducted my own informal survey
online
 Conducted Fall 2008
 Total of 43 respondents (30 males, 13
females)
 Range of all ages from High School to
working professionals
Original Research
Method
 Asked about the frequency of use of the following
technology categories, with several subcategories
in each one:

 Then asked which 3 was the most frequent and

which 3 was the most important to the respondent
Original Research
Method (Cont.)
 Then asked respondents about :
 Their technology skill level
 How often people ask them for
technology help
 How often they can fix technology
problems
 What method they use for trouble
shooting
 If they ever get scared of technology
 If they think they are “good” with
technology
Original Research
Method (Cont.)
 The respondents were then given a
short quiz to test their technology
skills
 The quiz results were then scored,
and were compared to what
technology skill level they said they
were.
Original Research
Possible Bias
 Mostly men took the survey
 79% of all respondents said that they
had “Above Average” or “High” level
of technology skills
 Most of the respondents were from a
technical forum or my friends for HS
(who all have a relatively high level of
technology skills)
 Original Research
Results
 When asked about which 3
technology categories they use
the most:
 Males said they use Email,
Internet Browsers, and PC
Hardware
 This corresponds to the ideal of
sending and receiving
information
 Females said they use Phones,
Internet Browsers, and
Document Editing
 This partially corresponds to the
ideal of small, portable gadgets
that allow them to communicate
 Overall, respondents said they
use Email, Internet Browsers,
and Phones
Note: categories with no response by anyone were
 This again, corresponds with the excluded from this chart, Data Labels were removed
ideal that the Internet appeals to due to size constraints
 Original Research
Results (Cont.)
 When asked about which 3
technology categories are
most important to them:
 Males said they use Email,
Internet Browsers, and tied for
Phones and PC Hardware
 This corresponds to the ideal of
sending and receiving information
 Females said they use Phones,
Internet Browsers, and Email
 This partially corresponds to the
ideal of small, portable gadgets that
allow them to communicate
 Overall, respondents said they
use Email and Internet Browsers
[they tied], and Phones
 This again, corresponds with the
ideal that the Internet appeals to
both genders.
 In general, the most frequent
and most important match Note: categories with no response by anyone were
up, but not on a individual excluded from this chart, Data Labels were removed
due to size constraints
 Original Research
Results (Cont.)
 When asked what 3
categories of technology
they used most frequently,
and then which 3 was most
important to them:
 Only 42% the respondents
important and frequent
technologies match
 There was no correlation
between a respondents
technology skill level and the
important and frequent
technology categories
matching
 There was no correlation
between a respondents
gender and the important and
frequent technology
 Original Research
Results (Cont.)
 When asked about their
technology skill level:
 None of the respondents said
that they had a “Low”
technology skill level
 Half of the male respondents
said that they had a “High”
technology skill level
 Most of the female
respondents said they had a
“Above Average” technology
skill level
 Most of the total respondents
had a “Above Average” or
“High” technology skill level
 Note that none of the females
said they had a “Basic” skill
level, but some males did.
 With a bigger sample size, I
think that the results by
gender would be more
 Original Research
Results (Cont.)
 When asked if they
were scared of
technology:
 Males said “No” 80% of
the time
 Females said “No” 85%
of the time
 Overall, respondents
said “No” 81% of the
time
 I think the fact the
more men were
scared then women,
is because of the
sample size, they
 Original Research
Results (Cont.)
 When asked if they were
good with technology:
 Males said “Yes” 93% of
the time
 Females said “Yes” 100%
of the time (13 people)
 Overall, respondents said
“Yes” 95% of the time
 I think the fact the more
women said they were
good with technology
then men is because of
the sample size, they
should be the same.
 The statistics for enjoying
using technology were
exactly the same.
 Original Research
Results (Cont.)
 Out of 8 questions:
 Most males scored
an 8 on the quiz
 Most females scored
a 6 or 7 on the quiz
 Overall, most people
got all questions
correct
 With a bigger
sample size, I think
that the results by
gender would be
the same
Original Research
Overall
 The research shows that:
 Men and women have about the same
skill level, and enjoyment with technology
 Men and women differed a bit when it
came to how they use technology
 A bigger sample size should show that
the differences are even less than
shown here
Conclusion
Conclusion
What Happened …
Conclusion

 Currently, there is almost no difference

in skill level between the genders and
their use of the computer
 There is still some difference in the main
reasons why the genders use computers
and technology
 Females for another level of social
interaction
 Males for retrieving and publishing
information
 Women have had a important role in
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