Portuguese research on Gender and ICT: The place of education

Ferreira, E. (2017). Gender and ICT: school and gender stereotypes, in SIIE 17 Simpósio Internacional de Informática Educativa, Lisboa, Portugal, Novembro 9-11 2017, pp. 124-129. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are intertwined with almost every aspect of our daily lives, they have become central to the way we communicate, work and socialize. ICT are increasingly a structural aspect of societies, however, ICT continue to be a highly gendered area of life in all socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, and a source of significant social inequality in enduring ways. This paper reports on an ongoing research project 'Gender@ICT' which explores the interrelations of gender and technologies in an educational context in Portugal, based on focus groups and group activities (games with images related to ICT and gender) with preschool children and 9th grade students. The results bring evidence that ICT is highly related to gender stereotypes which affect boys and girls representations and practices, including their educational and career choices.

Advances in social networking and online communities book series, 2011

Gender is an important issue in the context of information and communication technologies (ICT). Studies show that ICT use is subject to gender bias, e.g. in relation to ICT use and interests. This contribution describes the current situation of gender and ICT professions in Germany and Greece. Based on an empirical study, it shows particular areas in ICT education that suffer from gender inequalities in both countries. Furthermore, the chapter elaborates how gender inequalities develop from secondary to professional ICT careers based on statistics from Germany and Greece.

2005

This special issue of Interactive Educational Multimedia is entirely dedicated to Portugal. Its main purpose is to contribute to the understanding about what is going on in this country in what concerns the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the educational context. As generally in all the UE countries the interest showed by the educational national authorities in Portugal about ICT is very high. In general, following the European directives and, more recently, pursuing the strategic goals to be attained by 2010 as defined by the Lisbon European Council held in March 2000.

2008

2019

Is ICT somehow natural for men, and unnatural for women? Are women underrepresented in ICT professions? Does ICT education harm women? These and similar questions buzzle many. The cornerstones for any profession are set at the education phase, in different education institutions and in the curricula they follow. Gender roles and models accepted in early education will have a long tail paving the way for maybe the whole professional career of an individual. If changes in gender roles in any profession are looked for, professional education is a good place to start with. At the same time, it must be remembered and studied, if gender roles towards ICT are already formulated at the basic education. This article performs a literature review on the gender equality issues in ICT education. The questions presented above are scrutinized especially from the viewpoint of ICT education. There is a severe search for any theoretical explanations why ICT should be male-oriented. At the end, reason...

Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 2011

The overall picture of the situation relating to gender and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has so far been that men have been dominating the field and have left the women behind. This has also been the point of departure for policymakers. But, as will be shown in this paper, this male domination of the entire ICT field is not the case anymore. On the contrary, the situation is far more complex. For example, when looking at younger generations, the picture appears to be nuanced; both boys and girls seem to be involved and interested in using different ICT tools, both at school and elsewhere (CERI, 2010). Moreover, along with the new generation, there is the emergence of the new social media, in which girls seem to be highly involved. The present paper explores the ways in which the gender issue appears in youngsters’ use of and attitudes towards ICT and how they perform and interact as producers and consumers of digital content.

Women participation in computer science and related areas in Brazil is fewer than men, considering quantitative researches on both labor market and academic space. Brazilian Society of Computing supports an initiative to discuss the disparities in this issue in Brazil: Women in Information Technology-WIT. We analyze 81 short papers published on 10 th , 11 th , and 12t th editions of the event to highlight information on interests, practices, and origins of these papers. We base our analysis on Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and Feminist studies and we point out to plural and inclusive computing that open participation of all people in all spheres of society considering the social, cultural and historical aspects of society in the 21 st century.

This article refers the relation between Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and particularly web-based ones, programs and learning in Portuguese Middle and High regular public Schools. This article is based on a study started in 2007 and it is now in a final and consolidation phase. This study also includes statistical information based on collected data from questionnaires made in “Grande Lisboa”, main Lisbon parishes. According to these questionnaires, technologies are quite accepted in schools. Use and quantity of resources restrain learning evolution with recent technologies. Web-based technologies are insufficient inside schools and their use is low. Including and adapting ICT with programs and curriculum are goals to reach in the years to come. Combining theoretical knowledge and on field perceptions, analysis and evaluation leads us to conclude that, inside Portuguese Middle and High Schools, it seems we have some evident discrepancies when we analyse ICT across the curriculum, quantities and use of ICT resources. E-Learning, virtual classroom and virtual schools are probably a desired goal but far from the real situation in Portuguese education. However, we are optimistic, perspectives are good and we will overcome this problem.

Research on gender and technology has traditionally focused on studying the exclusion of women in ICT. In contrast, technologist women's experiences and their strategies leading to their inclusion in ICT have received less attention. Motivated by our previous experience in technoactivism and the observation of a remarkable presence of women, within the Donestech Collective, we initiated a research project on the access, uses of and desires of women who had been involved in technology. For this we created a website, gathered information on women and technology, generated and participated in meetings and workshops and, especially, collected experiences of women technologists. A call was made through the Internet to answer a semi-qualitative questionnaire online and, besides that, several in-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted in different Spanish Regions. Our findings suggest a great diversity of women pathways to ICT as well as heterogeneous technological practices among women technologists where Internet plays a significant role. Moreover, our results show that women in ICT are curious and enthusiastic, want to be empowered, are willing to share the knowledge gained with others, distrust and dislike power relations existing in the technological environments and try to maintain a critical and creative attitude towards technology.